Impacts of the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) on poverty reduction among rice- and cassava-based farming households in rural Nigeria

Abstract Poverty has constituted a significant threat to life and economic development in most developing nations of the world. The rural dwellers in Nigeria have suffered welfare deficits and depletion in general living standards. Developmental programmes and interventions implemented to address rural poverty and inequality in Nigeria have targeted improving crop value chains to increase productivity and income and therefore eliminate poverty in the country. Hence, this study examined the impacts of the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) on poverty reduction among cassava and rice-based farming households in rural Nigeria. The 2022 version of the panel data set obtained from the VCDP management office within the Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) spanning the period between 2019 and 2022 was used. The data were analysed by descriptive statistics, the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) poverty measure, and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach. The poverty gap estimates show that poverty headcount was lower among the cassava-based and rice-based beneficiary households (24.02% and 26.75%, respectively) compared to their non-beneficiary counterpart (66.67% and 53.42%, respectively). While annual per capita income significantly increased by ₦ 59,205.570 (131.36 USD) among beneficiaries in cassava-based households at 1%, poverty gap was reduced by 0.021% among the beneficiaries in rice-based farming households at 10%. It could be revealed that the intervention was effective in reducing poverty, more especially among the rice-based farming households. Therefore, the study recommends that the implementation of the VCDP should be sustained and scaled up for wider coverage and effective poverty reduction, especially among cassava-based farming households in rural Nigeria.