Empowering Rural Dwellers for Effective Livelihood in Benue and Nasarawa States, Nigeria
Anonguku, I1. & Gyata, B. A.2
1Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication
University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria
2Department of Agricultural Education, College of Education, Katsina-Ala, Benue State
E-mail:iorfaanonguku@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The Survey was conducted to investigate the empowerment status of the rural people, through training, in the execution of agricultural and rural development projects in Benue and Nasarawa States, Nigeria. The population of the study consists of all relevant resource-poor rural dwellers. A multi-state selection process involving purposive and simple random sampling techniques was used to select a sample size of 350 respondents. However, out of the 350 Questionnaire distributed, only 316 were returned and used for analysis. Primary data were generated using well-structured questionnaire and the data analyzed used descriptive statistics such as mean, frequencies and percentage as well as inferential statistics such as Menn-Whitney analysis. It was found that training was generally organized for the rural dwellers (80%), the respondents saw the need of spending money on trainings (77%), and they received training on skills acquisition generally (76%) as well in agriculture, health, education and social works as a package (74%). The respondents, however, received moderate training in other areas like building, construction, maintenance than agriculture, health, education and social works (52%). They mainly received their training through Lecturers and group discussion (68%) while others got through other methods like mass media. Result of test of hypothesis of capacity building of the rural people in the development projects in the study area revealed that Benue State had = 40.0 while Nasarawa States had = 38.0. The U1 calculated = 19.0 and critical value = 0 at 5% level o other members like mass media significance. Since U1 cal. (19.0) >0 (critical value), the null hypothesis was rejected and alternative hypothesis accepted, implying that there was a significant difference between Benue and Nasarawa States in terms of capacity building of the rural people in the development projects because Benue State showed more commitment in capacity building of its citizens. It is therefore recommended that rural dwellers in the study area should be given comprehensive and sufficient training in other areas than agriculture, health, education, and social works so as to adequately cope with the contemporary issue of food insecurity and infrastructural underdevelopment, since holistic development of any community depends to a large extent, on agriculture and other sectors of the economy.
Keywords: Empowerment, rural dwellers, livelihood, Benue and Nasarawa States.
