ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT’S INTERVENTION ON LIVELIHOOD OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED MILLET FARMERS IN BORNO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) interventions on yield, income and standard of living of internally displaced millet farmers in Borno State, Nigeria. Cross-sectional survey design was adopted using a population of 679 internally displaced farmers who benefitted from IFAD interventions in Borno State. Three research questions were raised to guide the study and one null hypotheses was formulated to be tested at 0.005 significance level. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 248 internally displaced millet farmers as sample. A researcher designed questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection with a reliability coefficient of 0.79. Descriptive statistics in form of frequency count, percentage and mean were used to describe the socioeconomic characteristics while stepwise linear regression was used to test the hypotheses. The regression result shows that IFAD interventions significantly affect yield with coefficient of (R² = 0.347) and standard of living with a coefficient of (R² = 0. 321). whereas the result reveals that the interventions have not significantly affect the income of the farmers with the coefficient of (R² = 0.092) The findings indicate that IFAD interventions improved the yield and standard of living of internally displaced millet farmers in Borno State, Nigeria. The study recommended that, Borno State government should ensure continuity of the interventions provided to internally displaced millet farmers, as it reveals from the findings of the study that the interventions improves the yield and standard of living of the farmers.