Impact of Youth Commercial Agricultural Development Programme on Poverty Status of Rural Households in Ekiti State, Nigeria

The paper investigated the impact of the youth commercial agricultural development program (YCAD) on the poverty status of rural households in Ekiti State, Nigeria with the view to ascertain whether the program has increased par capital expenditure of the beneficiaries. We used a household-level survey collected through a well-structured and pretested questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Foster, Greer, and Thorbecke (FGT) weighted poverty index and Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model was used for data analysis. Based on the poverty line created, participants of YCAD who were poor were 33.1 percent while that of non-participants was 48.8 percent. The squared poverty gap index for the participants and non-participants had a value of 0.017 and 0.041 respectively. Education, access to extension, and membership in association significantly influenced household participation in the YCAD program. The result showed that household size, the total value of disposable assets, and access to extension services increases per capita expenditure among participants. With regards to non-participants, the result showed that male-headed household and occupations were positive and significant at 5 percent each. We suggested that government should replicate and scale up the YCAD program so as to expand and accommodate more beneficiaries having impacted positively on the poverty status of the participating rural households in Ekiti State Nigeria.