Influence of Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development Projects on Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

Abstract

Rural Nigeria faces persistent poverty, where agriculture remains the primary livelihood for the largely rural population. However, although Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development Projects (CBARDP) have been widely implemented, the extent to which community participation strengthens their poverty-reduction outcomes remains insufficiently examined, particularly using a comprehensive Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach. This paper discusses how Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development Projects (CBARDP) reduce poverty in Nigeria with the community participation as a moderator. Primary data were collected from 385 rural household heads using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. Respondents were selected through multistage stratified random sampling across the North-West, North-East, and South-South geopolitical zones of Nigeria, yielding a 96.25% response rate. The findings revealed that Community-Based Agriculture Projects (CBAP) exerted a significant positive direct effect on poverty reduction (β = .189, p < .001), whereas Rural Development Projects (RDP) did not. Community participation both directly reduced poverty (β = .237) and significantly strengthened the effects of CBAP (β = .304) and RDP (β = .215) on poverty reduction. The moderation model elucidated 47% of the variance in poverty alleviation. These results show that meaningful community involvement is not just an extra step, but a necessary step to turn investments in agriculture and rural development into long-term poverty reduction in Nigeria. While the cross-sectional design limits causal inference, the model explains substantial variation in poverty reduction and provides a robust basis for future longitudinal investigations.