An Assessment of the Dynamics of Poverty Among Rural Active Population in Mangu Local Government Area, Plateau State

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the dynamics of poverty among rural active population in Mangu Local Government of Plateau State The ob1ect1ves of the study were to determine the socio-demographic and economic characteristics of the respondents; the incidence and spatial distribution of poverty and the causes of poverty in the study area. The study also intended to assess the pattern of poverty trajectory of the rural active population in the study area and the coping strategies/mechanisms employed to manage the various manifestations of poverty by the poor in the study area. It was also to investigate the impacts of government poverty intervention programmes especially National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in the study area among others. A sample size of 500 was adopted for the study. The study area comprised of 11 districts and over 260 settlements. Five districts and 25 settlements were selected using the random and systematic sampling techniques. Questionnaire, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were used to collect data from the respondents. The data were analyzed using different statistical techniques such as descriptive, chi-square, correlation analyses as well as ANOVA. The finding reveals that there is high and spatial variation in level of poverty in the study area. Many reasons were identified to have influenced poverty in the study area such as failure of agriculture due to high cost of farm inputs, crises, decline of tin mining activity in the study area as well as low level of education, lack of infrastructure and low income among others. The study also identified four poverty trajectories in the study area. It was also discovered that NAPEP has not have any positive impact on the well-being of the labourforce study area as a result of allege high rate of corruption among leaders, leakage of benefits to un-inte11ded beneficiaries among others. It was also discovered that poverty has serious setback on the deyelopment of the study area and by extension rural areas of Nigeria. Recommendations were made for policy makers and implementers to empower the rural areas and enhance the development of the country side.