Department of Agricultural Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Idowu, E.O., Department of Agricultural Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
The study assesses the impact of the National Agricultural Land Development Programme on farm incomes in the Oyo and Osun states of Nigeria. In each state, 60 farmers, equally distributed between the participating and non-participating, were randomly selected. The study showed that the programme in these two states achieved less than 2 percent of the targets set for land development and placement of participants during the project life of seven years (i.e. 1992-99), and showed a participant turnover of 76 and 79 percent for Oyo and Osun states, respectively. Similarly, net farm incomes by the farmers (ranging from US$164 to US$267) were grossly inadequate to satisfy the needs of the farmers and their families. The article makes some recommendations to improve the performance of similar projects in the future. These include adequate funding, as well as the provision of rural infrastructure and credit to participants.