Analysis Of Poverty Level Among Gari Marketers In Ogbomoso Agricultural Zone, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the poverty level of gari marketers in Ogbomoso Agricultural Zone of Oyo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling method was employed to select ninety (90) respondents. Primary data were collected through a well-structured schedule and the data collected were subject to descriptive, poverty, budgetary and ordinary least squares regression analyses. Findings revealed that the mean age of respondents was 44years while 23.3% had no access at all to formal education. Majority (76.7%) of the marketers were married with a mean household size of 8 members. Averagely, per capita expenditure per month was N4,037.54 for respondents. The moderate poverty line for marketers was N 2,691.70 while the core poverty line wasN 897.23 per month. The poverty headcount, poverty gap index and severity index of the respondents were 30%, 11.6% and 6.0% respectively. Based on the result of the data analysis,30% of the marketers were categorized as poor while 70% were categorized as non-poor. Marital status, household size, household access to water had significant effect on poverty level of respondents. The BCR of 1.12 revealed that gari marketing is a profitable enterprise in the study area. It is recommended that stakeholders should provide public cars and buses as a means of transportation. This would reduce the high cost of transportation and thereby increase their income and reduce their poverty level.
Keywords: poverty; gari- marketing; FGT.