Agricultural farming system options for alleviating poverty in Nigeria: A case study of Niger State

Abstract

The study examined the types of farming system adopted as well as the effect of farming systems on poverty alleviation among farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. The primary data for the study were obtained using structured questionnaire administered to eighty randomly sampled farmers from two Local Government Areas. Descriptive statistics and production function using regression model were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that young farmers of working age dominated the farming process. The regression model estimated revealed double log (Cobb Douglas) as the lead equation with the value of coefficient of determination (R) 0.8440, indicating that 84.44% of the variation in farm output was explained by the inputs included in regression model. The F-ratio estimated as 36.28 was significant at 1% level of probability. The result also showed that labour, other input costs, access to credit and farming system adopted were significant 10% while farm size was significant at 5% level of probability. It was therefore amended that extension workers should educate the farmers to enable them understand the different techniques of different farming systems in order to increase their level of productivity Moreso, Government should make agricultural inputs available at subsidized rates so that they can afford them.