IMPACT OF NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR FOOD SECURITY ON FARMERS’ INCOME IN SOUTH WEST, NIGERIA

Abstract

This project was carried to assess the impact of National Programme for Food Security (NPFS) on farmers’ income in South West, Nigeria. Specifically, the study ascertained the socio-economic characteristics of farmers involved in NPFS, determined the level of participation of the farmers in the NPFS programme, determined the income of farmers before and after participation in NPFS, identified the benefits derived by beneficiaries from the NPFS programme, ascertained the constraints encountered by the beneficiaries in the NPFS programme and ascertained strategies of improving the programme. Ondo and Osun States were purposively selected for this study. Two sets of farmers were used for this study; all farmers that benefitted from National Programme for Food Security and non-beneficiaries in South-West, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used. In all, a total of three hundred and sixty (360) respondents made up of one hundred and eighty (180) beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries who were randomly selected. A well-structured questionnaire was validated and used with focus group discussion to collect relevant information. Descriptive statistics such as distribution, frequency, frequency, percentage, chart and mean. Inferential statistics such as Chi-square and t-test were used. Descriptive statistics findings indicated that mean age of the beneficiaries was 53.1years and that of non-beneficiaries was 42.5 years, 79.4% of the beneficiaries were male and 61.1% of non-beneficiaries were male, 96.1% of the beneficiaries were married and 86.1% of non-beneficiaries were married, 23.9% of the beneficiaries completed secondary school and 28.3% of non-beneficiaries attempted and completed secondary education. The average household size for the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries were 6 and 4 persons, respectively. Findings further revealed that at monitoring and evaluation of activities stage, participation were high, attended meetings always, contributed to discussion during meetings and participation in decision making mechanism were equally high. Chi-square result revealed that there was a significant association between level of participation and marital status, age, educational level, religion, household size, farming experience, primary occupation, annual average income and total farm size. The Chi-square result further revealed that respondents’ sex and marital status were not significantly related to constraints faced during implementation of NPFS. The t-test result revealed that there was a significant difference in the annual average income of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries with mean difference of N140,000.00 and implies that beneficiaries’ income status had been enhanced as a result of their participation in NPFS programme. The study concluded that the higher the level of participation of beneficiaries especially at planning, execution and monitoring and evaluation stages in agricultural programme had along away to determine the success of the programme. There was a significant difference in the socio-economic life of farmers before and after the commencement of NPFS. The study recommended that, all stakeholders should be involved in the project planning and implementation of any agricultural programme. The presence of older farmers in the zone is an indication that the future of farming is in danger as this could have negative impact on production. Therefore, there is need to encourage involvement of youths in farming activities.