Income Distribution Among Farmers in Northern Nigeria: Empirical Results and Policy Implications

摘要

Despite the Nigerian government objective of achieving a more equal distribution of gains from economic growth, the income gap between rich and poor in that African nation has widened substantially. The report studies income distribution among farmers in Northern Nigeria and concludes that achieving goals have been hindered by insufficient knowledge about designing appropriate policies, implementing them, and measuring their impact. The difficulty in designing policy instruments which effectively reach more than a small proportion of the rural poor is examined. The report describes the need for policies which make farming more profitable, pointing up the importance of improved food grain technologies since most poor farmers themselves are net grain purchasers. The need for further study to explain farm productivity differentials with income classes is cited. Factors which could provide valuable guidance in designing improved technologies appropriate to low-income producters is cited. An extensive bibliography and some illustrations are included.