EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT MARKETS-II PROJECT ON AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Maximising Agricultural Revenue and Key Enterprises in Targeted Sites (MARKETS) II project on agricultural development in Southwest, Nigeria by assessing the factors determining participation of farmers in the MARKETS-II project; investigating the effects of the MARKETS-II project on access to agricultural inputs by the farmers; determining the effects of the project on the output of farmers; assessing the level of adoption of agricultural technologies introduced by the project; and examining the effects of the project on private sector participation in agricultural investment. Primary data were collected through the use of questionnaires administered to 756 farmers and 32 participating organizations. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select the study sample size. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings from the study revealed that the factors that significantly determined the farmers’ participation in the MARKETS-II project were educational status, farming experience, membership in cooperative, attitude (positive at p<.01) and access to credit (negative at p<.1). Farmers’ participation in MARKETS-II project had a significant and positive value (.546) which implies that it is an important factor in determining farmers’ access to agricultural inputs. Results of the Double log production function revealed that the variables that were promoted by the MARKETS-II project had a stronger effect on the output after the project. All the technology provided were well adopted as shown in the mean values (3.0833 to 4.6909). The paired sample t- test conducted to examine the effect of the MARKETS-II project on private sector investment in agriculture showed that there was a statistically significant difference in private sector investment in Agriculture before participation in MARKETS-II project and after the project t value (2.744) and p value of .012 (p<.05). Based on these findings, the study concluded that the United States Agency for International Development MARKETS-II project enhanced agricultural development in Southwest, Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that MARKETS-II project should be replicated in all the states of the country, so that it can also enhance agricultural development in such areas.