Development impact of agricultural projects on smallholder farmers: A case study from the Fadama iii project in Ebonyi state, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria has over 100 million people living below the US$1.90 poverty line. Most of these poor people are rural smallholder farmers. Agricultural interventions are ongoing to alleviate poverty and food insecurity amongst smallholder farmers in Nigeria, but these interventions have been less successful when compared to similar interventions implemented by developed countries. One such intervention in Nigeria is the Fadama III project. It is against this background that this study evaluated the development impact of the Fadama III project on the agricultural yield, food security, and income of smallholder farmers. The aim was to draw lessons from the evaluated project that would guide the design of future agricultural projects that are more effective. Using primary data from 300 farmers, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, probit regression, propensity score matching, and a quasi-experimental research design, this study found that the Fadama III project increases agricultural yield (rice yield), three dimensions of food security (food availability, food access, food utility), and some type of income (income from cassava production) of smallholder farmers in Ebonyi State. However, Fadama III does not significantly cause an increase in the food stability dimension of food security and other types of income like income from rice production. It also found that youth and female farmers are under-represented in Fadama III project. Also