Seasonal determinant of expected poverty status among cashew farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the seasonal determinant of expected poverty status among cashew farmers in Oyo State. Multistage random sampling procedure was used to collect panel data from cashew farmers in Oyo State. Ogbomoso Agricultural Development Project (ADP) zone was purposively selected out of the four ADP zones in Oyo State due to high concentration of cashew farmers in the zone, then based on proportionate to size technique a total of 25 villages were selectfromthe LGAs.Finally 10 farmers were selected from each of this villages. This resulted in a total of250respondents, but due to absence of 29 respondents during off-season, 221 respondents were used for the study. The Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT), descriptive statistics and Three-Stage Feasible Generalized Least Squares (3FGLS) were used to analyze data collected. Result showed that 68.80% of the cashew farmers were poor during off-season, with high poverty intensity (47.40%) and severity (38.10%), respectively. During on-season, 57.90% of cashew farmers were poor, poverty intensity and severity were 38.10% and 30.80% respectively. 40% of the farmers poor in both seasons. 28.05% of them transited from poor to non-poor, about 17.65% of non-poor transited into poor while only 28.10% were non-poor in both seasons.3FGLS result shows that seasonal production of cashew and household size were inversed related (p=0.001) with poverty status of the respondents. Farming experience, age and gender positively (p=0.001) influenced farmers’ poverty status positively. Conclusively, majority of cashew farmers were poor while poverty intensity and severity increased more during off-season.