ANALYSIS OF THE POVERTY STATUS OF SMALL RUMINANT FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study analyzed the poverty status of small ruminant farming households in Kaduna state. Data was collected from 320 small ruminant farming households, with the use of a structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using FGT Index. The study revealed that the mean household monthly per capita expenditure of small ruminant farming households was ₦12, 589.84 while the poverty line was N8, 393.23. This implies that the household whose monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) is below N8, 393.23 was considered to be poor while those above the poverty line were considered to be non-poor. Also the poverty incidence among the small ruminant farming households was 0.625. This shows that 62.50 % of the small ruminant farming households in the study area was poor. The poverty depth among the small ruminant farming households was 0.31 implying that 31.00 % of the small ruminant farming households had the mean MPCE below the poverty line. The result further showed that poverty severity was 0.16 representing 16 % of the small ruminant farming households who are poorest of the poor farming households. This showed that higher level of differences; exist in the income levels of the poor and the non-poor. Furthermore, the result of the single ANOVA showed that there is a significant difference on the poverty status among the three production systems namely extensive, intensive and semi-intensive. The study concluded that the poverty status of small ruminant farming households was high, looking at the result of their MPCE, poverty line and poverty depth. It is recommended that small ruminant farming households should form formidable cooperative societies to harness credit and benefit from extension services delivery. They should also incorporate other means of livelihood diversification to adequately address their poverty situation while government and non-governmental agencies should intensify efforts in training of small ruminant farming households on new and improved technologies to improve their level of production and profit