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TITLE PAGE Assessment Of Local Government Agricultural Activities In Rivers State, Nigeria BY ALBERT CAROLINE OBINEDO PG/Ph.D/08/48442 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Ph.D IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION (RURAL SOCIOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA MAY, 2015 i CERTIFICATION Albert Caroline Obinedo, a postgraduate student in the Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with registration number PG/Ph.D/08/48442, has satisfactorily completed the requirements for research work for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Agricultural Extension (Rural Sociology and Development). The report embodied in this thesis is original and has not been submitted in part or full for any diploma or degree of this university or any other university. We accept it as conforming to the required standard. PROF. E.M. IGBOKWE DR (MRS) M. U. DIMELU (Supervisor) (Head of Department) DATE DATE ii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to God Almighty for His loving kindness, faithfulness and mercy and to my late mother who desired to see me through my education but death never allowed her. iii iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My immense appreciation goes to my supervisor, Prof E.M. Igbokwe, who meticulously read through my work and ensured its completion. His meaningful suggestions and enduring patience have made this work a reality. Special thanks also go to Prof. M. C. Madukwe, Prof. A. E. Agwu, Prof. (Mrs) E. A. Onwubuya, Dr (Mrs) M. U. Dimelu, Rev. (Dr) I. A. Enwelu, Dr (Mrs) A.N. Asadu, Dr (Mrs) Chah, Dr (Mrs) J.C. Iwuchukwu, Mrs C.E. Nwobodo, Miss I.J. Irohibe, Mrs C. Ayogu and Miss O. I. Ogbonna. I will also not hesitate to appreciate Mrs T. Adeogun, and other members of the non academic staff. My most sincere love goes to my beloved husband, brother, friend and mentor, Deacon Obinedo Albert for all his patience and contributions. Also, to my children: Praise, Jeremy, Chukumela and Odioka, I say thank you for being there for me. This work will not be complete without the mention of Prof (Mrs) M. N. Koko, Dr B.I.Isife, Mrs Pricilla E. Nwokoma, and Mrs Linda Ufot. They were so concerned about its completion. Finally, I give thanks to God Almighty from whom all blessings and knowledge flow. His profound wisdom bestowed on me has aided the completion of this work. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page i Certification ii Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv Table of contents v List of tables viii List of figures ix Abstract x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background information 1 1.2 State of the problem 5 1.3 Purpose of the study 7 1.4 Hypotheses of the study 7 1.5 Significance of the study 8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERARURE REVIEW 2.1 Concept of local government 10 2.2 Agricultural activities in Nigeria 17 2.3 Funding for agricultural activities 27 2.4 Linkages between LGC and other agricultural activities 30 2.5 Determinants of agricultural activities implementation 32 2.6 Benefits of agricultural activities 33 2.7 Condition of farmers/rural dwellers 35 2.8 Agricultural production in Nigeria 37 vi 2.9 Problem of oil exploration on agricultural production 39 2.10 Local participation in programme implementation 42 2.11 Challenges of local government agricultural activities 52 2.12 Conceptual framework 54 2.13 Summary of literature 58 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Study area 59 3.2 Population and sampling procedure 62 3.3 Data collection 64 3.4 Validity and Reliability of instrument 65 3.4 Measurement of variables 65 3.5 Data analysis 69 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Respondents’ personal characteristics 70 4.2 Status and Types of local government agricultural activities 80 4.3 Level of local participation in agricultural activities 89 4.4 Perception of benefits of local government agricultural activities 93 4.5 Status of funding of local government agricultural activities 97 4.6 Extent of linkages between local government other agricultural activities 101 4.7 Factors inhibiting local government agricultural activities 106 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Summary 115 vii 5.2 Conclusion 119 5.3 Recommendations 121 REFERENCES APPENDIX viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Review of IFAD projects in Rivers State 24 Table2: Budgetary allocations to agriculture in Rivers state (1999-2010) 28 Table 3: Relationship between budgetary allocations to agricultural sector and agricultural output 29 Table 4: Average total monthly allocation to Rivers state's 23 LGAs 30 Table 5: Nigerian Food Production and Food Demand (1995-2001) 38 Table 6: Output of selected food crops in Rivers State (1999-2010) 39 Table 7: Ranking Of major environmental problems, social issues and priorities 42 Table 8: Chart used to assess level of local participation 46 Table 9: Stages/Levels of participation in a project cycle 49 Table 10: Sampling procedure for sample size 63 Table 11: Selected sample size 64 Table 12: Percentage distribution of personal characteristics of LG staff 72 Table 13: Percentage distribution of personal characteristics of households 76 Table 14: Result of semi log of households’ socio economic attributes 78 Table 15: Result of binary logit of households’ socio economic attributes 80 Table 16: Types of local government agricultural activities 81 Table 17.1: Status of local government agricultural activities 84 Table 17.2: Percentage distribution of Household perception on status of local government agricultural activities in the study area 86 Table 18: Agencies collaborating with LG to fund agricultural activities 88 ix Table 19.1: Rural households level of participation in LG agricultural activities 90 Table 19.2: Percentage distribution of stages and levels of rural households level of participation in LG agricultural activities 93 Table 20: Perception of LG staff on benefits of agricultural activities 95 Table 21: Perception of households on benefits of agricultural activities 97 Table 22: Mean score on status of funding of LG agriculture 100 Table 23: Percentage distribution of LG staff perception on linkages between LG and other agricultural agencies 104 Table 24: Perception of households on factors inhibiting LG agricultural activities 108 Table 25: Perception of LG staff on factors inhibiting LG agricultural activities 111 Table 26: Rotated component matrix based on LG staff and households 114 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Schema on assessment of LG agricultural activities 57 Figure 2: Map of Rivers State 61 Figure 3: Types of Local Government agricultural activities 82 Figure 4: Extent of funding allocation as percentage from 2005-2010 101 Figure 5: Linkages between LG and other agricultural agencies 105 xi ABSTRACT The study assessed Local Government agricultural activities in Rivers State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study was designed to: identify the types of agricultural activities implemented; ascertain level of local participation in agricultural activities; ascertain perceived benefits of agricultural activities; assess status of agricultural funding for agricultural development; identify areas of linkages between LG and agricultural agencies and ascertain factors inhibiting LG executing agricultural activities. Eighteen communities from nine Local Government Areas (LGAs) were selected by multi-stage sampling technique from the twenty three LGAs in the state. A total of two hundred and seven (207) respondents made up the sample size for the study. Questionnaire and interview schedule were the instrument used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentage, chart, mean statistics and factor analysis. Socio economic attributes (age, sex, educational level, occupation, income, etc) on participation was ascertained using multiple regression.. The hypothesis was tested at 5% level of significance Findings revealed that 37.1% of the LG staff, 30.6% of households’ heads were within the age range of 40-49 years, majority (74.1% and 66.7%) of the LG staff and households heads, respectively were married. All (100%) of the LG staff were educated while 81.4% of the households were educated and the main occupation of LG staff was civil service while half (50.3%) of the households heads depended mainly on farming. Building of market ranked first (1st) as the dominant agricultural activity followed by fisheries sub-sector and establishment of poultry farms that ranked second and third, respectively. Local people participated at the implementation (50.0%) stage of agricultural activities, 10% participated at the planning stage and 3.3% participated at the diagnostic stage. Poverty reduction (M=3.17), reduced rural-urban migration (M= 3.06), increased employment opportunities (M=3.14), provision of raw materials for local industries (M=3.02), increase food supply (M= 3.10) and increased interest in agriculture (M=3.13) were perceived benefits of agricultural activities. Khana was the LGA that spent the highest (6.37%) (N600000) on agriculture from a mean annual allocation of N6.9m. Linkages existed between LG and Agricultural Development Project (ADP) (M=2.62), International Fund for Agricultural Development (M=2.55), and FADAMA III (M=2.62) in the areas of joint use of farmers, joint use of staff and joint funding of project. Corruption (M=2.58), non- continuity of projects (M=2.54), politicizing of selection of participants (M=2.37), poor interest of the community people (M=2.23) and low budgetary allocation (M=2.78) were seen as inhibiting factors to LG administration implementing agricultural activities. There was a significant (p<0.05) influence of socio economic attributes (education, occupation and income) of households on participation. xii CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background information Local Government (LG) administration brings government closer to the people; it takes governance to the door steps of the people. It is a sub-unit of government controlled by a Local Council which is authorized by the central government to pass ordinances having local application, levy taxes or exact labour within limits specified by the LG edict (Ola, 1984; Ugwu, 2000).