Comparative Analysis of Poverty Level Among Rural and Urban Farmers in Ekiti and Ondo States

Abstract

The study was carried out to investigate the poverty level differential among rural and urban households in Ekiti and Ondo states of Nigeria. A total of 180 households, were randomly selected, from nine Local Government Areas of the two states.  A structured interview schedule was used in eliciting information from them. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts Mean, Standard Deviation and inferential statistics (Foster-Greer-Thorbeck, FGT). The Foster-Grear-Thorbecke (FGT) measure showed that 78% and 57% of the rural and urban farmers from the two states were poor respectively. Based on the poverty line of N5668, the depth of poverty is 0.3889 and 0.1875 for the urban dwellers. For the rural dweller, the severity of poverty is 0.2613 and 0.0856, and this showed that there was a higher level of poverty among households in the rural areas than the urban areas of the study area.