Vulnerability Profile of Rural Households in South West Nigeria

Abimbola Oluwayemisi Adepoju,Bolarin T Omonona,Sulaiman A Yusuf,Foluso Y Okunmadewa

doi:10.5539/jas.v3n1p128

Abstract

This paper examined vulnerability to poverty of households among rural households in South West Nigeria usingprimary data from a two-wave panel survey (lean versus harvesting periods). Results showed that on the averagethere is a 0.56 probability of entering poverty a period ahead in the region and relatively high poverty rates wereassociated with much higher vulnerability while low poverty rates were associated with considerably lowvulnerability. Vulnerable households are mostly large sized with high number of dependants and characterized byunder aged or old, female headed, widowed household heads. They are mostly engaged in farming as their primaryoccupation, have no or low educational attainment and are landless. The findings underscore the centrality ofsocial protection policy mechanisms as potent poverty reduction tools and necessary policy interventions to reduceconsumption variability through reducing exposure to risk or improving the ex post coping mechanisms of thevulnerable.

Highlights

Poverty is prevalent in large parts of the world and is one of the largest challenges of mankind in the 21st century
In Nigeria, poverty is largely a rural phenomenon with agriculture accounting for the highest incidence over the years and 54.4% of the population below poverty line in 2004 out of which 36.6 % of the total population are living in extreme poverty (NBS, 2005)
This negative effect weakens with the household size as the coefficient of household size squared is positive and significant confirming the non-linearity of relationship with log of consumption per capita

Summary

Introduction

Poverty is prevalent in large parts of the world and is one of the largest challenges of mankind in the 21st century. In Nigeria, poverty is largely a rural phenomenon with agriculture accounting for the highest incidence over the years and 54.4% of the population below poverty line in 2004 out of which 36.6 % of the total population are living in extreme poverty (NBS, 2005). Various governments of Nigeria have tried several programmes, approaches and strategies aimed at improving the conditions of the poor and while some of the efforts are still on course, many have since gone moribund. Despite these various programmes and strategies, the incidence of poverty continues to rise. Given the increasing population growth, rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, frequency and ISSN 1916-9752 E-ISSN 1916-9760 www.ccsenet.org/jas magnitude of natural disasters and the recent food, fuel and financial crises the concept of vulnerability can no longer be ignored

Methods

Results

Conclusion