Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Vol. 2(7), pp. xx-xx, July 2013 Available online at http://academeresearchjournals.org/journal/jaed ISSN 2327-3151 ©2013 Academe Research Journals Full Length Research Paper Analysis of poverty and its determinants among cassava farmers in Apa Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria Tsue P. T.*, Obekpa J. U. C. and Iorlamen T. R. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. Accepted 12 July, 2013 This study assessed the degree of poverty as well as its determinants among cassava farmers in Apa Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria, using a sample of 80 cassava farmers randomly selected. Descriptive statistics, the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) poverty index and Tobit regression model were employed as instrument of data analysis. The result indicated that 57.4% of the respondents were poor, and 31.6% of poverty line is needed to take them out of poverty, and about 23% inequality exist among the poor cassava farmers. While increase in age of the household head was found to increase poverty, increase in cassava farming experience and farm size reduced the farmers’ poverty status. There is still significant scope for income increases through direct increment of cassava farms. Key words: Tobit regression, poverty status, determinants, cassava farmers. INTRODUCTION Nigeria is one of the most resource-endowed nations in the world. But socio economically, Nigerians are also among the poorest in the world (Etim et al., 2009). Hence, there is a persisting paradox of a rich country inhabited by poor people, which has been the subject of great concern for many years, but more especially in the last decade. In year 2002, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Nigeria as the 26th poorest nation in the world (The Guardian, July 26, 2002; Dike, 2002) in the midst of plenty, and till today the country has not found her ways back in successfully reducing poverty to the barest minimum. The human poverty index HPI-I value for Nigeria of 38.8% ranks the country 75th among 103 developing countries (UNDP, 2005, Etim et al., 2009). Poverty in Nigeria is rising with almost 100 million people living on less than $1 a day. The percentage of Nigerians living in absolute poverty - those who can afford only the bare essentials of food, shelter and clothing - rose to 60.9% in 2010, compared with 54.7% in 2004 (Subair, 2012). Although Nigeria’s economy is projected to continue growing, poverty is likely to get worse as the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen and employment generation intervention programmes are not taken into account. Indeed, reliance on unproductive subsistence farming and export of a few agricultural commodities places Nigeria at a disadvantaged position in the world, and threatens food security and increases rural poverty. The livelihoods of the Nigerian poor, both in rural and urban areas, depend primarily on agriculture, as at least two- thirds of the total labor force is engaged directly or indirectly in agriculture-related enterprises. Hence, for the majority of poor Nigerian households, improving the productivity of the domestic food and agricultural systems is key to enhancing well-being and escape from poverty (ECA, 2004). In the wake of a looming “global food crises” that Nigeria is not isolated from, more emphasis is now being placed on increased domestic production. It is not un- common to see rural poor households engage in cassava *Corresponding author. E-mail: pettsue@yahoo.com. Tel: +2348077755858.