Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 3
Written by Nnamdi Chukwuemeka EHIRIM, Emeka Emmanuel OSUJI

Efficient use of sustainable soil management techniques has proven to be a panacea for poverty reduction among farmers. Hence this study examined the Impact of sustainable soil management techniques on poverty levels of arable crop farmers in Imo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 209 arable crop farmers. Information on the objectives of this study was elicited from the sampled respondents through a well structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools, poverty index, average treatment effect (ATE) and local average treatment effect (LATE) models. Results showed that the mean per capita consumption expenditure among the farm households was N360.30 ($1.81) while the poverty line was N240.20 ($1.21) per person, per day. Over 70% of the respondents accounted for the number of poor in the area, while 21.5% accounted for the non-poor people. The result further showed that the use of sustainable soil management techniques reduced the poverty level of the farmers by 13.1 percent and 18.9 percent from WALD and IV estimators. Hence, appropriate government policies should be directed towards encouraging the rural farmers to embrace the use of improved farming techniques for increased output and poverty reduction.

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