ABSTRACT
Fadama I project in Nigeria has attracted assistance (funds) from the World Bank. Kebbi and Sokoto states are two of the beneficiaries of the funds. This study therefore, assessed the Influence of Fadama I Project on socio-economic status of farmers in Kebbi and Sokoto states, Nigeria. Specific objectives included: assess the influence of Fadama I project on the overall farm yield of participating farmers and to assess the influence of Fadama I project on the socio-economic status of participating farmers. A proportionate random sampling procedure was used to select 400 respondents from 14,600 participating farmers. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from respondents. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages were used for bio-data analysis while regression analysis was used for analyzing the null hypothesis at P ~ 0.05 level of significance. Fadama I project has led to an increment in the overall farm yield of the participating farmers in Kebbi and Sokoto states, High cost of farm inputs such as improved seeds, improved breeds of animals, herbicides, pesticides, inorganic fertilizer have affected the general adoption of Fadama I project, There is significant influence of Fadama 1 project on the socio-economic status of farmers in the study areas. Therefore, the entire null hypothesis was rejected, since all the R Values were positive and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. This shows that there was significant influence of Fadama I project on the socio economic status of the participants'. The study therefore concluded that the influence of Fadama I project on the socio-economic status of the participant is positive, hence improvement on the living standard of the participating farmers in Kebbi and Sokoto states. It therefore, recommended that more Fadama lands should be acquired by Kebbi and Sokoto states government and leased them among small scale farmers to enable farmers have access to more lands for higher farm productivity.