Assessment of multidimensional poverty in Zone A agricultural development project area of Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Poverty has remained a multidimensional problem, yet it has traditionally been measured in empirical studies with income. This often times fail to account for other dimensions of deprivations experienced by rural dwellers. This study assessed Multidimensional poverty in Zone A area of Kogi State Agricultural Development Project, Nigeria. The data for the study were drawn from household survey conducted in 2019/2020 farming season through the use of structured questionnaire. A multi-staged random sampling technique was used to draw the sample. A total sample of 120 respondents was used. The study utilized both descriptive and inferential statistics which include the use of frequency, percentages, FGT methodologies to assess the extent of multidimensional poverty and regression analyses to assess the determinants of multidimensional poverty in the study area. The result of the study showed that 84.16% of the sampled households were non-poor while 15.84% were poor. The result of the study also reveals that the intensity of poverty (A) was 0.366 and the multidimensional poverty index was 0.058 while Sanitation, Education and Household assets contributed most to the incidence and severity of multidimensional poverty among the households respectively. The major determinants of multidimensional poverty across the various constructs of deprivation include Age, household size, membership of cooperative/association and farming experience. The study concluded that poverty alleviation efforts should go beyond using income approach alone, rather other dimensions of deprivations should be given attention. The study recommends that socioeconomic factors should be considered in the design and implementations of poverty programs.