AKSU Journal of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development

DETERMINANTS OF POVERTY LEVEL AMONG RURAL YAM FARMERS IN WUKARI, TARABA STATE, NIGERIA

Author:  FILLI, F. B. AND INYANG, H. B.

Abstract
The research examined the determinants of poverty among the rural yam farmers in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State. Ninety-five (95) yam farmers were randomly sampled from five wards. Data were collected using well-structured questionnaires. The arithmetic mean, percentages, frequency and binary logit regression were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 39.24 years, 60.0% of the respondents were male, 50.50% of the respondents were married, about 83% of them were literate and the average years of farming experience was 13.92 years. About 61% of the respondents had no access to credit facility. About 62% of the respondents were involved in farmer's associations. About 54% of them had no access to social amenities. The binary logit regression showed that, the coefficient of annual income, age, educational level, farming experience, membership of association, and access to credit, were the significant socio-economic variables affecting poverty level in the study area. The study recommends organisation of adult education programme and encouragement of farmer’s group formation as avenues for sharing information and knowledge among themselves which could help in poverty level reduction.