RURAL RAPID APPRAISAL OF FADAMA III AF1 PROJECT IN GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study evaluated the impact of Fadama III AF1 based on rapid rural appraisal survey. The Project focused on increasing the household incomes among Fadama production group (PG) and Fadama production clusters (PC) members. This study used propensity score matching (PSM) to select 120 project beneficiaries and 120 non-beneficiaries of Fadama III AF1 project. The result revealed that membership to Fadama production group (PG) and Fadama production clusters (PC) increases as beneficiaries of Fadama III AF1 received intervention. The result showed that there was increase in the proportion of male (80%), female (33.33%), youth (60%) and people with disability (50%) at rapid rural appraisal. The result showed that average household income of male beneficiaries increased to N83,614.77 and female beneficiaries also increased to N36,021.43 at rapid rural appraisal. The result of average yield of rice production was 3,507.04Kg/ha for beneficiaries and 1,796.11kg/ha for non- beneficiaries and there was significant difference at P<0.001. The value of productive assets at the time of rapid rural appraisal was N30,028.04. Furthermore, increased in saving as % productive asset at baseline was 17.32% and at rapid rural appraisal was 30.47%. The result also indicated that, there was increasing change in the level of satisfaction among beneficiaries in terms of operation (90.48%), maintenance (78.57%) and utilization (96.15%) of assets. Physical verification showed that out of 11,337 productive assets acquired, 9,014 (79.51%) were in good condition and 16,404 (84.14%) of users were satisfy with the condition of assets. The findings also indicate that the capacities and abilities of the beneficiaries were enhanced through capacity building to assess their needs, participate in planning, implementation and manage economic activities. The finding also indicated that there was harmonious relationship among Fadama Production group (PG) and Fadama Production Clusters (PC) members and as such, regard themselves as partners in progress. It is recommended that Farmers should be advised through the Agricultural Development Programme to train the farmers on resource utilization and farm management skills to further boost their income and increase their efficiencies through the adoption of the best technologies.