ABSTRACTThe study was conducted in Soba, Giwa, and Kudan Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, Nigeria. It investigated the impact of USAID/MARKETS intervention programme on sorghum farmers‘ livelihood in the study area. The study also investigated the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, it identified services rendered by the programme, production constraints and determined the factors influencing farmers‘ participation in the programme. A multi-Stage sampling technique was used to select respondents for the study. A total of two hundred and forty five respondents comprising of one hundred and fifty three (153) participants and ninety two (92) non-participants were interviewed with aid of structured questionnaire which vital information was obtained. Analytical tools used were both descriptive (frequency distribution, percentages and mean) and inferential statistics (logit regression and chow test statistical tool). The results of the analysis obtained shows that Majority (62%) of the respondents participants and (61%) of the non-participants were within the age range of 40-49 years. Almost all the respondents were married with just few singled. More also, about (16%) of the participants and (67%) of the non- participants had no formal education, while (73%), (28%) of the participants non- participants attended primary and secondary schools with only (11%) and (4%) of the participants and non- participants who attended tertiary institutions. The study revealed that participants benefited from support services rendered by the programme: training on improved sorghum production practices, technical assistance on quality input/field visits, and market linkages ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, respectively, among the participants‘ farmers. Logit regression analysis showed pseudo R2 of 0.623 meaning that about 62% of the variation in the participation of USAID/MARKETS was explained by the independent variables in models. Household size (x3), Educational level (x4), Extension visit (x6), Cooperative membership (x7), Farm size (x8), had positive and direct relationship with participation in the USAID/MARKET programme implying that one unit increase in their variable coefficient result to an increase in level of participation. Chow test F-calculated for output, income and level of living were 4.61, 15.58, and 3.94 respectively, while that of F-tabulated value for 8 degree of freedom with sample size of 245 was 2.80 at 5% level of probability (p < 0.05), hence there was significant impact of USAID/MARKETS on sorghum production output, income and level of living of the participants in the study area. All the null hypotheses were rejected while the alternative hypotheses were accepted. Major constraints identified by the participants were pest and disease (53%) and inadequate capital (36. %) and labour shortages (31%) while high cost of fertilizers carried (13%). In overall, there was significant impact of USAID/MARKETS programme on sorghum production in the study area, hence it is recommended that the programme should be sustained and scaled-up and replicated in other LGAs and States in the country including FCT, Abuja that are yet to benefit from it.
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