Gender Issues on Poverty Alleviation Programmes in Nigeria; the Case of the National Fadama 1 Development Project in Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study determined the gender issues on poverty alleviation programmes; the case of the National Fadama 1 Development Programme in Abia State, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used in the selection of the local government areas, communities and sample size of 150 respondents (75 men and 75 females). The instrument for data collection was via well structured and protested questionnaires. The result of the poverty profiles indicated that the poverty incidence of the male and female fadama1 farmers was 0.67 and 0.56 respectively. The result on the poverty gap (measures income shortfall) showed that the men required 46.0 percent and the women 48.0 percent of the poverty line to get out of poverty. The result also posted the Gini-coefficient (measures the extent of inequalities in income distribution) of the male and female fadama farmers to be 0.233 and 0.347 respectively. The result of the paired t-test revealed that the farm size and annual fadama farm income were statistically significant at 99.0% and 95.0%. Confidence level respectively. Policy aimed at annulling the land tenure system and replacing it with a gender sensitive system that will redistributive the fadama land equitably. The land tenure system which causes fragmentation of land should be abolished and a policy aimed at redistributing fadama land equitably put in place.