Assessment of the effectiveness of ifad-community based natural resource management programme (cbnrmp) in reducing income inequality among beneficiaries in Edo State, Nigeria

The study assessed the effectiveness of the IFAD Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programme (CBNRMP) in the reduction of income inequality among beneficiaries in Edo Stale. The objectives were to determine the effectiveness of the programme in reducing income inequality among beneficiaries and examine constraints faced by the beneficiaries in the CBNRM programme. To achieve these objectives data were collected from 180 respondents, comprising 82 CBNRMP beneficiaries and 98 non beneficiaries, randomly selected from the three agro-ecological zones in the State as delineated by the Edo State Agricultural Development Programme (EADP). Structured questionnaire and interview schedule were employed as instruments for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as tables, mean, frequency distribution, standard deviation as well as inferential statistics like Gini coefficient and student t-test. The study found that the programme was seen to have impacted positively and significantly (t = 10.89; p<0.05) on beneficiaries' income with their without and with CBNRMP income being N281,119.01 and N421.095.73 respectively. Similarly, beneficiaries' average farm income (N421,195.73) was found to be significantly (t = 4.11; p<0.05) higher than that of non-beneficiaries (N263,008.21). The Gini coefficient obtained for both groups were 0.798 and 0.791 respectively indicating that there is high level of income inequality among the different groups which implies that the programme did not reduce income inequality among farmers in any significant way. Two major factors found to be of great concern, to CBNRM programme beneficiaries were lack of insurance against crop/livestock failure (mean score = 4.01) and the small size of loan given (mean score= 3.50). It was recommended that there is need for an upward review of the loan volume granted beneficiaries to enable them expand their enterprise and meet their production costs as well.