ABSTRACT
The study examined the impact of socio-economic variables on the production of farmers due to the intervention of International Fund for Agricultural Development/Community Based Agricultural Rural Development (IFAD/CBARD) Program in Katsina State, Nigeria. A total of 109 respondents who were beneficiaries of the program were randomly selected from the 12 participating local government areas. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression analysis and students t-test. Result showed that majority of the respondents were males, aged 41years, married with mean household size of 13 and had one form of education or another and practice crop production as their major farming activity. Among the socio-economic variables studied, farming experience, household size and type of occupation were significant at P<0.01. Some of the constraints identified with the program include delay of counterpart funding by the stakeholders and intrusion of political office holders into the program. Conclusively, IFAD/CBARDP has succeeded in impacting positively on the farmers’ activities in production, management and social interaction. It is recommended that co-sponsors (States and Local Governments) should make timely disbursement of funds to save time and prevent delay in project implementation. It is imperative that extension experts be appointed as local government planning officers and state coordinators to enhance information flow and implementation of the designed action. |
KEYWORDS: |
Socio-economic variables, IFAD/CBARD, projects, beneficiaries, credit facilities |
