Core Poverty Research Articles

Analysis of Poverty Profile of Rural Farm Households in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The poverty profile of rural farm households belonging to association(s) in Akwa Ibom State, in the southern region of Nigeria, was analyzed. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select 180 rural farm households within the research area. Descriptive statistics and the FGT methodology were utilized to evaluate the objectives of the study. The findings indicated that 60.56% of the rural farm households were classified as poor. Among the identified poor farmers, approximately 27.78% and 32.78% were categorized as core poor and moderate poor, respectively. Only 39.44% of the rural farm households were considered non-poor. The incidence of poverty among the core poor farm households was found to be 51.00%, while it was 62.00% for the moderate poor rural farm households. Similarly, the poverty depth indices revealed that the core poverty group accounted for 28.00%, whereas the moderate poverty group accounted for 22.00%. Furthermore, the research identified several activities adopted by farm households to alleviate poverty, including providing loans to members at reduced rates, mobilizing savings, engaging in group work, disseminating information on new agricultural products and prices, and organizing training on modern farming techniques, among others. Based on these findings, it is evident that poverty continues to be a significant issue among rural farm households in the southern region of Nigeria. Therefore, a re-evaluation of the various strategies aimed at reducing poverty is imperative in this region.

ANALYSIS OF POVERTY STATUS AMONG FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN CENTRAL ZONE OF PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

This study examined the poverty status of farming households in Central Zone of Plateau State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting the respondents. Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire and were analysed using both descriptive (percentage and mean) and inferential statistics (Foster, Greer and Thorbecke and Logistic regression). The results revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 40 years, most of the respondents were married with an average number of 5 persons per households, and relatively low-income level but well educated, it was also confirmed that the average annual income of the respondents was ₦148,855 generated as a result of relatively large farm sizes as indicated by the average farm size of 3.8ha. The finding further reveals that inadequate government support, non-accessibility to improved seeds alongside poor road network/reserves and inadequate healthcare facilities were the major causes of poverty among the respondents. The poverty status was found to be at a moderate poverty line with (2/3 MPCI) of ₦99,236.36 and a core poverty line (1/3 MPCI) of ₦49,618.18, while the poverty incidence and severity were found to be at 0.505 and 0.299 respectively. Some of the major constraints identified in the study area were; inadequate access to funds, security issues and inadequate seminars/workshops. Emanating from the findings it can be concluded that the factors influencing poverty statutes of the farming households were income, education level, age, household size and farming experience. Based on the constraints highlighted the study recommends, the need for government and other relevant stakeholders such as financial agencies and non-governmental organizations to provide support through provision of loans, grants, trainings and seminars on the use of novel technologies in agriculture to foster and boost production among the farming households most especially in the rural settlements.

Causes and Measures of Poverty, Inequality, and Social Exclusion: A Review

Prevailing measures on the topics of monetary and non-monetary poverty—as well as economic and carbon inequality—are being critically assessed under sustainable development goals (SDGs) with a worldwide perspective. On the one hand, the poverty headcount ratio and the indices poverty gap, poverty severity, and Watts are assessed as core poverty indices. On the other hand, important inequality measures such as the Gini index and the Palma ratio are evaluated in order to find their potentials for policymaking. Furthermore, social exclusion (with the extreme forms of aporophobia and homelessness) has detrimental ramifications on human wellbeing and disturbs public provision policies. Thus, poverty, inequality, and social exclusion are integral parts of SDGs (1, 6 and 10), emphasizing the multidisciplinary nature of the above issues. Additionally, intrinsic elements of Agenda 2030 and the measuring of poverty, inequality, and polarization would significantly improve integrated policy pathways in the national and international fora.

Financial Inclusion Effect on Core Poverty During The Pandemic Period in East Java

Poverty is increasing globally at this time especially the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the banking sector has a role to play in controlling the growing poverty, one of which is through financial inclusion. In some areas, the financial inclusion index has improved, indicated by the number of people who have switched from traditional savings to financial institution savings and have also reached the infrastructure of conventional commercial banks, but the fact has not yet reached the “usefulness of banking services”. So that financial inclusion is not really felt by the community. This study uses data from the March 2020 National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) and Podes 2020 to determine the effect of financial inclusion on core poverty. From the results of the logit regression estimation, it was found that financial inclusion had a strong effect on the status of core poverty in households when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in East Java (2020). Ownership of bank accounts has a strong and negative effect on poverty. The farther the distance to banking facilities, the greater the chance of experiencing poverty. Access to formal credit has the opportunity to move away from poverty. Education remains a key variable if you want to be free from poverty. The added value of farming households is still not optimal in increasing welfare, because they still have the opportunity to experience poverty. Access to information technology in households can increase opportunities to be more prosperous. From these results, the government should seek to increase public participation in having a bank account through banking literacy, through formal education, adding infrastructure for financial institutions evenly to villages, expanding access to formal credit services, and adding cellular/internet network infrastructure up to suburbs (rural/remote areas).

Poverty Profile and Health Dynamics of Indigenous People

This paper examines the critical aspect of health dynamics in the context of poverty and development of Indigenous people (Agta Isarog & Agta Tabangnon) in Mt. Isarog, Southern Luzon, the Philippines. The datasets were gathered from the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) of Goa Municipality, complemented by IP Censuses of 2018-2019. The core poverty indicators were analyzed in aggregated and disaggregated approaches. The poverty of each locality differs yet a large portion of the entire households and population of indigenous people are living below the poverty and food thresholds. In addition, the poverty incidence, gap, and severity using headcount ratios, gap metrics, squared gap statistics, and Watts indices were evaluated. It has been revealed that the poverty of Indigenous people is moderate to intense and manageable through intervention programs and policy initiatives. It then subsequently characterized the variables of health dynamics which vary per locality, and have been impacting poverty across all barangays. To confirm whether health dynamics predict poverty occurrences, Logistic regression models were estimated in an individual and consolidated manner. Results confirm that health dynamics significantly predict poverty outcomes.

ANALYSIS OF POVERTY STATUS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG HOUSEHOLDS IN MICHIKA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined poverty status and coping strategies among Small Scale Farmers in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State of Nigeria. Purposive and simple random sampling methods were used to select 342 respondents. Primary data were collected with the aid of questionnaire and analyzed using Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT), Logistic regression and Likert type Scale. The poverty status of the respondents revealed that 64% were poor with poverty gap of 33%. Poverty severity also revealed that the 17% of the respondents were mostly hit by core poverty. Credit size and household size were significant at P≤0.01 while age of household head, farm size, and ownership of farm land, educational level and gender were found to be significant at 5% and positively influence poverty status in the study areas. Plaiting of hair/barbing and credit from Micro-Finance banks (MFBs) were the major non-agricultural poverty coping strategies with mean of x = 3.0 and x = 2.89, respectively, and major agricultural poverty coping strategies were rain fed crop farming and gardening with mean value of x = 3.69 and x = 3.21, respectively. The study recommended that credit accessible to farmers and promote off farm activities as an alternative to livelihood strategies will go a long way in addressing their poverty situation.

Regression trees for poverty mapping

SummaryPoverty mapping is used to facilitate efficient allocation of aid resources, with the objective of ending poverty, the first of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Levels of poverty across small geographic domains within a country are estimated using a statistical model, and the resulting estimates displayed on a poverty map. Current methodology for small area estimation of poverty utilises various forms of regression modelling of household income or expenditure. Fitting sound models requires skill and time, especially where there are many candidate regressors and even more possible interactions. Tree‐based methods have the potential to screen more quickly for interactions and also to provide reliable small area estimates in their own right. A classification tree technique has been presented by Bilton et al. (Comput Stat Data Anal115: 53–66, 2017) for estimating poverty incidence, but although adjustments were made to incorporate complex survey designs and estimate mean square error, classification trees are unable to estimate the associated non‐categorical deprivation measures of poverty gap and poverty severity. The focus of this paper is regression trees, because they enable all three core poverty measures of incidence, gap and severity to be estimated. Using regression trees, two alternative methodologies, parametric and non‐parametric, are explored for producing household level predictions that are then amalgamated up to small‐area level. New methods are developed for mean square error estimation. The properties of the small area estimates based on these regression tree techniques are then evaluated and compared with linear mixed models both by simulation and by using real poverty data from Nepal.

Rearing and marketing of livestock in the Hakaluki Haor: Impact on livelihood, food and nutrition security

The study aims at assessing and analyzing the core food security indicators to formulate policy option to improve food and nutrition security of the haor people. A survey was conducted using structured questionnaire covering 200 households in 2017. Socio-economic and demographic characteristics influence the production, income and consumption process of farm household. Average family size, literacy rate and dependency ratio were 6.45, 0.48 and 0.69, respectively. Average land area and income of the farm household were 250.62 decimal and BDT 246300.72 respectively. Total income increased notably with the increase in income from agriculture and livestock. The annual family expenditure increased significantly with the increase in food expenditure, land size and education. The yearly family expenditure was BDT 2,48,309. Farmers consumed 22 food items among which rice, potato; leafy vegetables, milk, meat and egg are the most important food items. Average daily per capita food, calorie and protein intake were 1172 g, 2419 kcal and 86 g, respectively. Average daily per capita calorie and protein received from livestock and their products were 148.16 kcal and 16.62 g respectively. Average proteins from animal origin were 21.25 g of which fisheries contributed 22% and livestock contributed 78%. Average HDDS was 11.85. Binary and multinomial logistic regressions suggested that food security decreased with the increase in family size and increased with the increase in weekly cost of all food items. Marketing and adopting value chain by the farm households increased the income significantly. Absolute poverty was 33% and hard core poverty was 14% on the basis of DCI method. Absolute and hard core poverty were 29% and 20% respectively on the basis of CBN method. The major problems of the peoples were loss of assets due to natural calamities, high price of food items, improper marketing channels and inadequate supply of agricultural inputs. There are vast scope of utilizing land and water resources for ensuring food and nutrition security of livestock in the haor area. A package of policy options is suggested to increase food and nutrition security of the haor people.

Microcredit and Women's Empowerment

This paper aims to examine whether the microcredit (MC) programme, a financial mechanism to provide small amount of credit to the poor, had improved the status of poor women in the family as well as in society i.e. empowerment status of women. The research is based on primary survey of three settlements in the periphery of Bandipur Municipality of Tanahun district. For survey, a sample of 30 women were selected which represented 15 percent women beneficiaries of microcredit from the study area. The respondents were selected by using systematic random sampling. In addition to questionnaire survey, KII with six local persons and two FGDs were also conducted. The paper has used the conceptual framework of Sara Longwe (1990) to examine women empowerment. The findings are derived by comparing the position of women in various family affairs such as access to finance, control over income and expenditure, children's education and participation in social meetings etc., prior to and after participation in MC programmes. The results showed that most of the females who received microcredit reported socioeconomic empowerment through access to capital, control over resources, decision making power, etc. The findings, however, varied with regard to Dalit, Janajati and Brahmin/Chhetri women and those women in hard core poverty and landless families are still out of the reach of MC programmes. Those who are engaged in income earning activities with the MC need to be supported financially and technically to upscale their business so that the cumulative effect would also contribute to the improving various macro-economic indicators of the economy.

The nonparametric regression model using Fourier series approximation and penalized least squares (PLS) (case on data proverty in East Java)

Poverty is a problem all countries in the world, particularly developing countries, should encounter. The poverty level of a country can be a benchmark to see its social and economic conditions. Java is an island with the highest poor population density in Indonesia with the level of population density of 14.83 million people. East Java province had percentage of poverty of 11.85% in 2016 and it was included in hard core poverty (above 10%), indicating that East Java was on the highest level of poverty. Therefore, regression model is required to find out factors significantly influencing poverty. The regression model used is nonparametric regression model since the scatter plot does not form certain plot and even tend to have repeated patterns of data on certain time interval. For that reason, Fourier series approximation is needed in nonparametric regression. On such approximation, the model parameter can be estimated based on penalized least squares (PLS) and minimum generalized cross validation (GCV). The study investigated and applied the regression model on data of poverty in East Java. The study resulted in parameter estimation of 18 parameters and values of λ of nonparametric regression of Fourier series ranging from 0.05 to 0.1 on M=1 and GCV value of 5.83028 with coefficient of determination (R2) of 83.28.

Social entrepreneurship and organisational effectiveness: evidence from Malaysia

Malaysia has made great strides in eradicating poverty. Based on the latest figures of the 9th Malaysian Plan Mid-term Review, the overall hard core poverty percentage is down to 0.7%, and only 3.6% of the Malaysian population is living below the overall poverty line. The government has taken efforts successfully through various developmental projects to alleviate poverty in rural area. Today, urban poverty in Malaysia has increasingly visible phenomenon due to rural-urban migration and the natural population growth in urban areas. As a result of emerging new forms of poverty, there is a dire need to re-examine and re-visit urban poverty in Malaysia. This study affirmed that social entrepreneurship organisations in Malaysia have tried to overcome the urban poverty through social entrepreneurship. The new framework has been developed as a result of this study. It shows that social entrepreneurship contributed to the organisational effectiveness. This result indicates that social entrepreneurship is important to increase the socio economy and achieve the organisation's mission. Therefore, this study has proven that social entrepreneurship is beneficial to Malaysians.

Inclusive planning in Nigeria: A veritable tool for poverty reduction

In perceived or real terms stagnation in the supply of poverty alleviation, materials and resources seems to be the order of the day in Nigeria. Even though there are core poverty eradication ministries and agencies, their benefits are not evenly distributed as expected. What we have is a development where some are favoured and others are not. The paper argues in favour of embracing inclusive planning as a veritable tool for the reduction of poverty in Nigeria. The data for the study which provides the basis for this paper were collected from secondary sources. Results show that up till now in Nigeria, 84.4% of the people are poor or moderately endowed. It is therefore suggested that transparency and accountability be employed as two aiding keys of poverty reduction. Key words: Poverty, planning, Nigeria.

Examination of Poverty Gender Gap among Households in Ukwuani Local Government area of Delta State, Nigeria

This study was carried out to estimate poverty gap among female and male headed farm families in Ukwani local government area (LGA) of Delta State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select seven out of the 10 communities that make up the LGA. From each of these selected communities 10 respondents were selected from a list of farm families drawn with assistance of extension officers covering the area. This gave a total sample size of 70 respondents. The study was conducted in 2012. Various methods were employed in analyzing the data, including descriptive statistical tools and inferential statistics such as t-test and ordinary least square regression analysis. Results of the study indicate that the farmers were characteristically smallholders with about 50% of males and 83% of female household heads having not more than 1.50 hectares of farm. On the poverty levels of the households, it was found that the core poverty and moderate poverty lines for male, female and all households were N4078, N2217 and N3376 and N8146, N5435 and N6752 respectively. This implies that poverty was wide spread among the farm households especially the female headed ones. A test analysis to determine the effect of selected socioeconomic characteristics of the household heads on their levels of poverty indicates that four variables were significantly related to the household poverty levels, namely level of formal education, family size, farm size and household monthly income (P ≤ 0.05). A number of recommendations were made including the need for family planning among the rural households so that they produce only the number of children they can take care of to guarantee them minimum acceptable standard of living.Key words: gender gap, poverty, households, Delta State, male headed households, female headed households

The Role of Ngos in Preventing Unemployment in Bangladesh

Based on personal observation, qualitative and quantitative research method, objectives of this study have been set to explore the contributions of the non-governmental organization (NGOs) in Bangladesh with the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) as the case. Two villages of the Chandpur district of Bangladesh were selected. Results indicate that the NGOs are capable of contributing in preventing unemployment in rural areas with diversified programmes. However, the involvement and interaction of NGO employees with the rural population needs to be friendly. Introduction: The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have attached themselves with the employment generation activities regardless of male or female gender bias. They are initiating programmes for poverty alleviation through the sustainable development activities. Involvement of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with such activities has been evidenced through several academic research works (Chowdhury & Mukhopadhaya, 2011). Hundreds of such kind of organizations are in operation in Bangladesh for decades and are mainly financed by the international donor agencies. However, in many cases activities of such organizations and their presence in most rural areas of Bangladesh are very limited. This study has restricted its focus on a single large scale non-governmental organization known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). This is the world's largest non- governmental organization (NGO) which started the activities back in 1972 having Sir Fazle Hasan Abed as the entrepreneur (Reza & Ahmmed, 2009). This organization has gradually expanded its activities in diversified sectors and mainly in the areas like employment generation and poverty alleviation through sustainable developmental initiatives. Again, this organization has been playing role to develop the socio economic status of the women through involving them with the development activities. The adoption or implementation of programmes those are designed to bring the women with the development initiatives thus have been ensuring a better livelihood that is mostly free from hard core poverty. As outlined, main objective of this study has been to explore the contributions of the non-governmental organization (NGOs) from the developing country perspective, Bangladesh as a case. This has tried to assess the current unemployment situations in Bangladesh. With this purpose, the study has critically explained typologies of the executed programmes of BRAC, in the particular area of poverty alleviation. Literature Review: 2.1 Unemployment Situation: Bangladesh Perspective: Unemployment situation has remained constant in Bangladesh for the last few decades. The recent trend denotes that there have been some improvements in the unemployment scale in recent years. However, there has been always a serious anomaly in the measurement of employment status of the country population.

Socioeconomic Impact on Farmers in Malaysia: A Case Study on Integrated Agricultural Development Project

Problem statement: Integrated Agricultural Development Project (IADP) is a platform for rural socioeconomic improvement. This initiative has raised the income of farmers by creating a large scale fruits producer in Sarawak. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the direct impact of the agricultural development project on socioeconomic improvement in the Samarahan area. Approach: This study involved 14 villages and is located in the Mid-Samarahan and Upper Samarahan areas. A total of 220 households were interviewed during December 2005-February 2006 to collect information on yield and household income. The paired t-test analysis showed that the project had a positive impact on in-farm and other incomes of farmers. Results: It was also revealed that the poverty level of Sarawak state was reduced from the poverty line, from 77% in 1986-19.5% in 2005. The percentage of hard core poverty fell from 30.9% in 2000-6.4% in 2005. Conclusion: The project was generally implemented as an appraisal to increase the incomes of rural population through fruit cultivation as a main economic activity. It was concluded that this project is efficient as a tool to combat poverty and improved the socioeconomic level and income generating activities among the rural community.

Poverty in a Malay State in Malaysia: A Socio-Demographic Study

Leete (2007:147) stated that the poverty rate in Malaysia was 5.7%. The state of Sabah has the highest poverty rate at 23%, followed by Terengganu (15%), Kelantan (11%), Sarawak (8%), and Kedah (7%). In view of the scarcity of natural resources compared to Terengganu and Sabah which are receiving oil royalties from the Federal Government, Kelantan is potentially the poorest state, and will have the highest incidence of poverty in the near future.This study focuses on poverty level in the state of Kelantan. The main objectives of this study is to examine the relationship between poverty and various socio-demographic characteristics such as, educational attainment, age, number of children still living and family size of the respondents in one state which is potentially the poorest state in Malaysia. The findings if this study will provide the information on socio-demographic variables of poverty needed by policy makers to formulate a long term strategy, not only to minimize the number of poor people but to further reduce and eradicate hard core poverty in the state.The data pertinent to this study was collected through a questionnaire survey on poverty conducted in late 2009. Inferential statistics such as One-Way ANOVA was used to determine the relative impact of, and relationship between socio-demographic variables such as education, age, children still living (fertility) and family size of respondents and its relationship with poverty. It was found that family size has a very strong relationship with poverty among the respondents.Data collection for this study was funded by the Center for Poverty and Development Studies, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya.

Poverty and Place in Britain, 1968–99

To date, analyses of long-term trends in the spatial distribution of poverty in Britain have been frustrated by a lack of consistency in definitions, data sources and measures, as well as by changes over time in census and administrative geographies. This paper draws upon a series of national poverty surveys in order to derive methodologically consistent estimates of breadline and core poverty. These models are then applied to census data in order to describe the changing geography of poverty in Britain over the 1968–99 period. The primary concern is to reveal the changing spatial distribution of poverty that lies behind the headline figures. These analyses suggest that not only has poverty become increasingly prevalent amongst British households, it also became increasingly spatially concentrated between 1968 and 1999.

Public Sector Spending and Rural Poverty Reduction in South Eastern States of Nigeria

This study is concerned with public expenditure and growing incidence of poverty in South Eastern States of Nigeria. The objectives of the study are to determine the impact of poverty on human development, to examine the implications of government budgetary allocation (to selected area of specific needs) on development and to assess the effectiveness of national poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria with particular references to south eastern states. It also seeks to generate informed policy suggestions for the alleviation of poverty in Nigeria. The investigation was based on library research. This consisted of a review of the theoretical background and some related literature/works carried out in the area of study. Data were sourced from secondary and primary sources through the administration of questionnaire to the poverty alleviation stakeholders, junior and senior staff of related ministries, and employees of core poverty alleviation agencies/parastatals, state Government Committees of poverty alleviation, local government poverty alleviation committee and representatives from all the wards in the area of study. Available information reveals that despite the government initiatives towards poverty alleviation, the incidence of poverty is still on the increase. Further Evidence reveals that the high incidence of poverty has translated to underdevelopment. The poverty alleviation programmes are less effective as their performance is abysmally at a low ebb. Reasonable confusion, conflict of goals and duplication of functions are fashionable in poverty alleviation agencies and programme. On the strength of the above some recommendations are proferred so as to reverse the trend of poverty in the land. Other vital areas for further research are suggested.

The Hard Core of Poverty in Senegal

Departing from the limits of classical methods of measuring poverty, this paper introduces the profile of the core poverty in Senegal in order to circumvent E-F errors that infect poverty targeting. For this purpose, three poverty indicators based on expenditures, assets and relative deprivation are combined. The study highlights the multiple dimensions of poverty and shows that the phenomenon is widespread in Senegal: roughly two out of every eleven people lack monetary resources to satisfy basic needs and have difficulty achieving an adequate standard of living. Contrary to previous studies, the core poverty approach is very useful in diagnosing poverty in Senegal, as it provides evidence of the vulnerability of women - in particular widows and divorcees - and the unskilled.

Poverty, time and vagueness: integrating the core poverty and chronic poverty frameworks

In recent decades there have been considerable steps forward in terms of understanding poverty. This paper identifies three ‘meta-dimensions’ of poverty, which relate to: (i) depth and severity; (ii) breadth and multidimensionality; and (iii) time and duration. The advances that have been made in terms of conceptualising, measuring and analysing poverty in each of these areas are briefly considered. It is shown that the third and final ‘meta-dimension’—time and duration—has been neglected until relatively recently. It is argued that time, and, in particular, duration is an important analytical component for understanding the experience of poverty and the processes that create and reduce poverty. The final part of the paper suggests a way of integrating time into a unified framework for understanding poverty, which can deal with the depth, breadth and duration of poverty. This involves extending Mozaffar Qizilbash's poverty and vagueness methodology to include duration.