Land Degradation, Soil Conservation Practices and Poverty Incidence in Southwestern Nigeria

Access to land and its fertility status are of paramount importance to enhancing the welfare of rural people in Nigeria. In the Southwestern part, land degradation and persistent growth in human population are major constraints to access to fertile land for agricultural production. This study analyzed the effect of owing fertile land and use of some soil conservation practices on poverty. Data were collected from 303 farmers from 3 states using multi-stage sampling procedure. Results show that about 35.64% of the farmers were poor and the poverty line using the Foster-Greer-Thorbeck (FGT) approach was 1, 445.30. The Probit regression reveals that residence in Oyo State and being married significantly reduced poverty, while household size increased it (p<0.05). Increasing the number of fertile land areas under fallow significantly reduces probability of being poor (p<0.01). Farmers that were using crop rotation, cover crops and organic manure have significantly lower probability of being poor, while those using zero tillage have significantly higher probability of being poor (p<0.05). It was recommended that adoption of improved soil conservation practices will assist farmers to increase farm outputs and reduce their poverty levels, while fertilizers should be made available at affordable prices.