Agricultural development is an integral part of national development. It is that aspect of development that is related to agrarian reforms. Considering the contribution of agriculture to the socio-economic development of many countries, several scholars have postulated theories linking agriculture with national development [1]. Within the context of development paradigms postulated in the field of agriculture, communication, sociology and economics there are evidence to show that changes are taking place in the agricultural sector across the globe. Therefore, such changes can be viewed from contributions of agriculture to the national economies of various countries in form of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Over 70% of Nigerian population reside and earn their living in rural areas. Majority of these rural people are actively involved in agriculture and agriculture related enterprises especially women, youths and children. 

In recognition of the critical role of agriculture to the country’s economic development, many Nigerian governments introduced various measures to boost agricultural production and alleviate poverty in the country including the Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs). Most of these programmes have failed to produce the desired results [2]. According to Eboh [3], in spite of successive progammes, the economy remains undiversified and highly skewed, as crude oil still accounts for more than 95% of total export revenues and up to 80-85% of government revenues, but contributes less than 4% of total employment. Agriculture’s contribution to GDP is presently about 41%. Ogwumike [2] explained that the major reasons for failure of poverty alleviation efforts in Nigeria include programme inconsistency, poor implementation, corruption of government officials and public servants, poor targeting mechanisms, and the inability to focus directly on the poor (in terms of identifying the poor and the nature of their poverty). The study further explained that sustainable poverty reduction in Nigeria would require the proper identification of the poor (their characteristics and survival strategies) as well as a multi-pronged approach in tackling the poverty problem given its multidimensional nature. Presently, agricultural development from an important component of Nigeria’s overall national prosperity ambition to become one of the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020 (vision 20-20-20). To achieve this, the Human Development Report of the UNDP [16] estimated that Nigeria would require overall growth of above 10% on a consistent basis to attain this vision. As a result, Nigeria has set targets for year 2020 namely a GDP of US$900 billion, out of which 15% (or US$135billion) is to come from agriculture, and a per capita income of US$4000 [3].

The establishment of the Agricultural Development Programmes in Nigeria ushered in a new era in the history of Nigerian agriculture, because for the first time an agricultural development programme focused attention on women farmers as an important component of agricultural development. While the general aim of the ADP was to raise farm productivity and standard of living of farm families, there was need to address the peculiar needs of women farmers especially on gender specific issues, with emphasis on 70% production and 30% post-harvest technologies. This was to harness the total farm agricultural capabilities of farm women, so as to build better lives for them, their families, communities, and the nation at large. 

Since 1990, the Women in Agriculture (WIA) in Ibi local government ADP have disseminated different technologies to women farmers such as:

• Crop varieties (maize, soya bean, rice, groundnuts, cassava, beniseed, sweet potatoes, and cowpea)

• Yam minisett technique.

• Crop mixtures (yam/cassava/maize/egusi alternate row, soya bean/maize, soyabean/sorghum, groundnut/cassava, groundnut/maize, groundnut/sorghum, and rice/maize)

• Livestock production (piggery, rabittary and poultry)

• Fishery (homestead fish production, pond construction, stocking and feeding, cultural practices, checking of overflow, checking of weeds, fish feed formulation

• Agro forestry (bee keeping, management of beehive, honey harvesting, snail farming and mushroom production)

• Fadama (vegetable production, management and use of tube wells, and water pumps)

• Post harvest innovations (processing, packaging, storage and marketing strategies) to women farmers in Taraba State [4]

Among the crop varieties, Cassava production technology was selected because it has many advantages over the other technologies namely:

• Cassava is one of the dominant crops in the study area, 

• There is no cultural restriction on cassava production by women in the area, 

• The renewed international interest in the cassava crop as a source of biofuels (ethanol) has raised the importance of the crop. Other reasons are: 

• Nigeria has potential comparative advantage (ability to produce at lower opportunity cost than others) in cassava production [5] in terms of a conducive climatic environment, abundant human and material resources, and favourable government policies [6] and others making it most suitable for this study. The cassava crop itself has some desirable qualities; it can be produced profitably because of its comparative low labour input [7]. The crop can produce a reasonable crop on marginal soils too poor for other crops [8]

This is a major production advantage because in most cases women are allocated marginal lands to cultivate while men usually get the fertile ones. Besides, cassava is easy to process and responds readily to improvement. As a cash crop, cassava generates more cash income for the largest number of households than other staples, contributing positively to poverty alleviation and rural welfare [9]. These and other features have endowed cassava with a special capacity to contribute to food security, equity, poverty alleviation, and environmental protection [10], making it very suitable for studying. In Nigeria, women make up to 60- 80% of agricultural labour force producing two-third of food crops [11] and 80% of the food, and are involved in food production, food processing and marketing (CTA, 2002). As much as 73% of women are involved in cash crops, arable crops and vegetable gardening, post-harvest activities (16%), agro-forestry (15%) while in some states, rural women have virtually taken over the production and processing of arable crops [12].

In spite of the fact that women make numerous contributions to agricultural production, the widespread assumption that men and not women make key farm management decisions has prevailed. So, when resources are released for agricultural development, women are often marginalized or even excluded. As a result, 70% of the world’s poorest people (including Nigeria) are women. Reasons for the neglect of women’s contribution to agricultural development include the small and fragmented nature of their farms, lack of education, poor information and poor technical skills, numerous domestic chores, lack of interest among planners on the role of women, societal attitude and traditions in the African society among others. According to Ogbimi and Williams [13], the reason for women’s limited access to income and economic opportunities is that women work at the margin of development efforts and programmes. Therefore, this study seeks to assess the activities of women in agriculture and their contribution to agricultural development in Ibi Local Government Area, Taraba State, Nigeria.

Conceptual Literature

Gender Issues in Women Agricultural Development Projects: Gender issues cannot be excluded from agricultural and rural development in Nigeria, Africa and the entire world. Rural women in Nigeria represent a high percentage of the Nigerian 140 million populations. Although both men and women in rural areas carry out their economic activities in agricultural related work, women across the globe have always played major roles in agriculture. They contribute substantially to food production and food security. In addition, Food and Agriculture Organization [8] reported that the majority of the world’s poor live in rural areas, and 70 percent of the rural poor are women, majority of whose principal resource is agriculture. A study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), pointed out that if women farmers were given equal access to resources, developing countries would see significant increases in agricultural productivity. Women produce almost half the world's food, but they often work in difficult conditions, with low pay and inadequate access to land, capital, information and they are mainly into subsistence agriculture. Approximately 50% of these set of people are also subjected to a very low scale form of production, with little or no access to information, resources and social amenities that could improve their productivity.

Due to the recognition of the roles played by rural women in agricultural production, both governmental and non-governmental organization embarked on various projects, which further popularize and improved the living condition of the women. The current issue in rural women development is now tending towards, recognizing the possible ways of sustaining all developmental projects directed at women. According to Adisa and Okunade, many rural development projects and programmes which are gender specific have been introduced to take care of women’s needs in the rural areas of the country. These programmes and projects include Better Life Programme for Rural Women (BLPRW), Women-In Agriculture (WIA), the Family Support Programme (FSP), and those introduced by international agencies UNDP, UNICEF. All these aimed at achieving women empowerment in Agricultural occupations.

In general, the problem militating against women development in rural areas, revolve round their inability to develop themselves in the area of their chosen economic activities, because they are regarded as not the original owners or possession of land which they can use as collateral in securing funds to improve on their activities. Another challenge is the societal culture that regards women as minor in the society while they are deprived of access to information that could better their lives [14].

Factors influencing Women Participation in Agricultural Development Project

In Nigeria today, however, women are excluded from certain occupational categories due to formal barriers as well as informal barriers to entry; the formal barriers which continue to hinder the entry of women into such occupational categories include:

• Lack of educational or technical training, 

• Labour laws and trading customs. While the informal barriers include: 

• Customs and religious practices, 

• Difficulties in combining domestic and labour market activities,

• Management and worker attitudes, (Lawanson, 2008). According to Daneji [1], the early studies legitimized the idea of women as productive partners in agriculture, discovering and documenting the various roles played by women as farmers, farm wives, and agricultural professionals and recounting the stories of successful women in these roles. 

Nigerian women are saddled with most of the tasks in agricultural production 'supposedly' meant for the man but the benefits gained by them are not commensurate to the man-hours they spend on the task. Despite the dominant and important role women play in agricultural production in the country, they are hardly given any attention in the area of training and/or visitation by extension agents with improved technologies. Banks hardly grant them loan and they are hardly reached with improved seeds, fertilizer and other inputs [15]. These conditions have entrenched the women in a vicious cycle of poverty that places them at a less advantageous vantage of income and resource empowerment. It is obvious that in spite of the positive impact of some of the rural/agricultural development strategies adopted in Nigeria, several noticeable limitations are evident [1]. However, some of these are common to all the programmes.

Constraints to Women Participation in Food Production

In the literature, Sessay and Odebiyi found that rural Nigerian women play an important role in food production and nutrition of their families with the women providing up to 80% of the food crops but the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) [16] has found that these rural women faced much constraints. More so, Anyakoha and Mbanefoh [17] found that these rural women who face enormous challenges and constraints in their role as providers of household nutrition security are under-rewarded resulting in poverty, environmental degradation, lack of appropriate technology, education and health. UNDP observed that poverty has been a longstanding issue in rural areas and Olayemi remarked that poverty in Nigeria has been described as an essential rural phenomenon because a disproportionately high percentage of the poor live in rural areas. Anyakoha et al., [18] reported that technological supports are male-oriented and gender biased. The authors emphasized that such technological support by government cannot promote women’s contribution in household nutrition security. Many rural women farmers have poor health status. This could be due to heavy farm work, childbearing and rearing and poor nutrition. The rural areas in Nigeria do not have good roads and social amenities such as potable water, health care services and electricity.

Furthermore, Anyakoha and Mbanefoh [18] stated that where there were no motorable roads, women trek very long distance and this usually wore and tore the women down gradually. Mbanefoh [19] observed that rural households do not often have enough to meet their basic needs. As such they spend 80% of their income of food leaving little on housing, health and education. Anyakoha and Mbanefoh [19] concluded that the lives of poor rural households revolve round a continuous struggle for food and a continuous threat of seasonal food shortages or price increase which makes food hard to be obtained. In order to increase food production and recompense the effort of rural Nigerian women farmers Nwabah [20] recommended the application of modern farm inputs. Earlier, Oculi recommended the adequate use of fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, improved skills of developed countries, provision of infrastructural facilities, transport/communication networks, and storage facilities to improve the marketing system. FAO [8] recommended the application of appropriate technology in food preservation. These included household and community methods and tools for preserving and processing perishable foods such as sea foods to increase shelf life, improve safety and nutrition quality. 

In order to ensure adequate food production by rural women farmers to feed the teeming population of Nigeria, challenges and constraints which hamper the women’s effectiveness must be promptly addressed. And adequate measures that serve as solutions must be vigorously sought and implemented. In view of the aforementioned, this study evaluates and identifies the constraints to rural women’s participation in food production and the measures for alleviating the problems in Ibi communities of Taraba state.

Review of Empirical Literature

From the literature, several studies have evaluated the role and significance of women in agriculture across the country with diverse outcome. Among these studies include Ater [13] who conducted a comparative analysis of productivity response and poverty alleviation among beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of World Bank assisted dry season Fadama Development Project in Benue State. The study used multiple regression analysis, discriminant analysis and stochastic frontier production function to evaluate productivity and efficiency among targeted beneficiaries. Poverty alleviation indicators, valued productivity and production efficiencies of the two groups were estimated. The study showed among other things that beneficiaries had higher incomes and higher output values than non-beneficiaries as a result of better decisions. Results showed that a positive impact was made on beneficiaries selected indicators. The stochastic frontier production analysis used indicated difference in production efficiencies of 94% for beneficiaries and 57% for non-beneficiaries. 

The study identified inefficiency indicators for Benue State dry season farmers as: farmer’s age, number of man-days loss to ill health, project contact score, literacy rating. The study concluded that increasing social overhead capital endowment among resources poor small-scale producers in the Fadamas was a pre-requisite for achieving poverty alleviation, and this can be accelerated by improving farmer based productive inefficiency indicators through credit and enlightenment campaigns. More so, Asogwa (2005) did an evaluation of government agricultural policies and effects of resources use in cassava production in Benue State, Nigeria. Data from 360 cassava farmers was analyzed using descriptive as well as inferential statistics such as stochastic frontier production function. Results of the field data analysis indicated technical inefficiency decline among cassava farmers in Benue State with the coefficients of improved cassava varieties and improved cassava processing technology as -0.18 and -0.1 respectively. The study concluded that inputs supplied to the farmers through the policy intervention of the government were efficiently used, hence the increased cassava output among the cassava farmers. Furthermore, the policy package in form of improved cassava varieties, improved cassava processing technologies made available to farmers increased the efficiency of their resources-use, hence maximization of their profit. He therefore recommended that policies that encourage input expansion in cassava industry should be sufficiently reinforced to bring about much larger increases in cassava production in Nigeria with consequent maximization of the profit of cassava farmers.

Furthermore, Bello [21] carried out a study to determine the effectiveness of contact farmers in the T and V project system in Nasarawa State ADP programme. Chi-Square and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data collected. Analysis of data showed that level of education, farmer’s age and farm size had a significant effect on farmers income while project contact, particularly had not. He inferred that land tenure influenced visits of non-contact farmers for the purpose of getting project messages from contact farmers. More so, Eze [22] undertook research to isolate the determinants of improved cassava production technologies among farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. Data collected from a sample of 250 farmers from 10 local government areas of Enugu State were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. Results showed that cassava production technologies that were at various stages of adoption were use of improved cassava stem cuttings, use of herbicides/pesticides, alternate row/crop geometry in cassava maize intercrop, planting distance, use of fertilizers, machinery, improved storage and processing, and planting angle. The study found the overall mean adoption score and index of 0.96 and 0.191 respectively. The low level of adoption was attributed to the cost of the technologies, their appropriateness, scarcity or non-availability of the project agents in the study area. The study showed that level of education, age of farmers, farm size, farm income and project visits were the major determinants of adoption of improved cassava production technologies in the study area. 

In addition, Oladejo [23] in their study “women participation in agricultural production in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria” Investigated the women’s access to economic resources and examined the influence of selected socio-economic characteristics of women and access to economic resources on their participation in agricultural production. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select 50 respondents for this study. The research was carried out with the use of well-structured interview schedule to obtain the necessary data. Both descriptive and inferential analytical tools were employed. Probit analysis was employed to investigate the determinants of women participation in agricultural production in the study area. The empirical results revealed that household size, marital status and local taboos had significant impact on the women participation in agricultural production; all at 5% probability level with a log likelihood of -96.160222, pseudo R² of 0.0875 and LR statistic of 18.44 which shows that the model has a good fit. Most of the respondents were illiterate with non-formal educational status which directly informed their participation in agricultural production. The study concludes that there is high rate of involvement of women in agricultural production in the study area; hence the role of some socio-economic variables as well as assets such as social capital, landed-property, cash as well as savings is central in determining the participation level or perception on agricultural production. Also, Ndanitsa [24] examined the impact of small-scale irrigation technology on crop production under Fadama areas of Niger State. He used farm budgeting model, farm production model and linear programming to analyse the data collected from farmers engaged in various crop enterprises under the Fadama programme. The farm budgeting model showed that Fadama cultivation was profitable. The farm production model revealed that land, labour and purchased inputs had a significant positive relationship with output of the enterprises. The linear programming analysis revealed that opportunities exist for increasing profits through resources reorganization under the programme.

Data for this study were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data were collected with the help of a well-structured questionnaire. An on-the-spot administration and collection was used to ensure that all distributed questionnaire were retrieved. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled TADP Women Farmers Questionnaire (TADPWFQ). The questionnaire was divided into two (2) sections, A and B. Section ‘A’ was for personal information while the section ‘B’ had four (4) units based on the objectives of the study. To analyse the data collected, descriptive statistics including percentages and frequency distribution tables were used to analyze the data on selected personal and socio-economic characteristics of the women, mean and standard deviation to answer research questions whereby a mean cut-off point of 2.50 will be used for decision making. Any mean score of 2.50 and above will be accepted as having the desired influence while any mean score below 2.50 will be rejected as not having influence. The research hypotheses were tested using chi-square test of goodness of fit at 0.05 level of significance.

More so, Chi-square is one of the inferential statistical tools commonly used for testing differences on categorical variables. The null hypothesis is that no relationship exists on these categorical variables in the population; they are independent. The Basic aim of (X²) is to establish whether or not; there is a significant association among response frequencies. Formula for Chi-square:

X² = ∑(O−E)²

               ​

Where;

0= observed frequency

E = expected frequency

∑ = Summation

The questionnaire was designed using Likert scale. SA= Strongly Agree, A= Agree, D=Disagree, SD= Strongly Disagree, VH = Very High, H = High, L = Low, and VL = Very Low. The four point’ respondent’s pattern was used to score the responses of the participants on their level of agreement and disagreement. The scales were graded as follows:

SA           =              1                              VH          =              1

A             =              2                              H             =              2

D             =              3                              L              =              3

SD           =              4                              VL           =              4

The cut off mean = 2.50

Therefore, any item in the questionnaire that has the mean rating of 2.5 and above is considered as agreed; while on the other hand, the mean rating below 2.5 is considered as disagreed.

Using the descriptive statistics, results are analysed and presented on the Women Agricultural Activities aided by Women in Agriculture component of Taraba Agricultural Development Programme in Ibi Local Government Area.

Table 1 shows the mean responses and standard deviation of Women Agricultural Activities Aided by TADP in Ibi. The result showed a high level of acceptance response from the respondents. It is accepted that land clearing, planting, fertilizer application, spraying of chemicals, weeding, harvesting, storage, marketing and feeding of animal/poultry are the major Women Agricultural Activities Aided by TADPs in Ibi.

Table 1: Mean Response and Standard Deviation of Women Agricultural Activities Aided by TADP in Ibi (N=65)

Field Study, 2022

Table 2 shows the mean responses and standard deviation of the Extent of Involvement of ADPs on Women Agricultural Activities in Ibi. The results show a high level of acceptance response from the respondents.

Table 2: Mean Response and Standard Deviation of the Extent of Involvement of TADPs on Women Agricultural Activities in Ibi (N=65)

Field Study, 2022

Table 3 shows the mean responses and standard deviation of the extent of Women Participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi. The result showed high levels of participation from the respondents, since six (6) items of the eight (8) items were accepted.

Table 3: Mean Response and Standard Deviation of the Extent of Women Participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi (N=65)

Field Study, 2022

Table 4 reveals the mean response and standard deviation of the Challenges Women Farmers Experience with Agricultural Development Projects in Ibi. The result showed that all the fourteen (14) stated items were accepted to be the challenges women experience with Agricultural Development projects in Ibi.

Research Hypothesis

There is no significant difference in the responses of women farmers and ADP staff on the extent of women participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi.

Table 4: Mean Response and Standard Deviation of the Challenges Women Farmers Experience with Agricultural Development Projects in Ibi (N=65)

Field Study, 2022

Table 5 shows the chi-square test statistics of the extent of Women Participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi. The = 150.35 show a greater value than the = 46.03 (critical value). Hence, the null hypothesis which states that there is a significant difference in the responses of women and TADP staff on the extent of women participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi is not accepted at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, we conclude that, there is a significant difference in the responses of women and ADP staff on the extent of women participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi.

Table 5: A Chi-square Statistics of the extent of Women Farmers Participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi

From Table 1, the mean response and standard deviation of Women Agricultural Activities Aided by ADP in Ibi showed a significant level of acceptance. The result showed a high level of acceptance response from the respondents. It is accepted that land clearing, planting, fertilizer application, spraying of chemicals, weeding, harvesting, storage, marketing and feeding of animal/poultry are the major Women Agricultural Activities Aided by ADPs in Ibi.

Table 2 shows the mean response and standard deviation of the Extent of Involvement of ADPs on Women Agricultural Activities in Ibi. The result shows a high level of acceptance response from the respondents. It is accepted that sources of input, market channels, farming problems, health issues of women farmers, sources of information and training of women farmers are the major was ways ADP involve in Women Agricultural Activities in Ibi. Access to credit/loan and timely solution to problems were the items that were not accepted as the extent of ADP involvement in Women Agricultural Activities in Ibi. Therefore, we conclude that the extent of ADP involvement in Women Agricultural Activities in Ibi is significant. This is in disagreement with Yusuf and Adenegan who concluded that extension services have generally been poor in Nigeria since withdrawal of World Bank funding from the Agricultural Development Projects.

Table 3 showed the mean response and standard deviation of the Extent of Women Participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi. The result shows a significant level of acceptance from the respondents. It revealed that increase in the access of women farmers to credit facilities, increase in the provision of improved seed for women farmers, increase in the provision of fertilizer for women farmers, provision of ICT for women farmers, improve knowledge and skill in women farmers, increase in the access of women farmers to credit facilities, increase in the provision of fertilizer for women farmers, increase in the provision of pesticide for women farmers, establishment of new infrastructure and technology training of women farmers was accepted as the extent Women Farmers participated in Agricultural Development Programs in Ibi. The study is in disagreement with Khan. whose findings revealed that women having more education fail to participate in agricultural activities but agrees with Rajwana.

Table 4 reveals the mean response and standard deviation of the Challenges Women Experience with Agricultural Development Projects in Ibi. The result show that seven (7) out of the eight (8) items is accepted to be the challenges women experience with Agricultural Development projects in Ibi. It specifically shown that poor technical know-how, inadequate infrastructural provision, non-involvement of programme beneficiaries in policy planning, poor funding, fund utilization, Government undue interference and time for women participation were the major ways women experienced challenges with Agricultural Development Projects in Ibi.

Table 5 shows the chi-square test statistics of the extent of Women Participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi and revealed that, there is a significant difference in the responses of women and TADP staff on the extent of women participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi. Thus, indicating that the extent of women participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi is significantly high. The difference is that, only a few mean responses fail to participate in the establishment of new infrastructure and technology training of women farmers.

In general, the study findings are consistent with Oladejo et al. [23], whose study concluded that there is high rate of involvement of women in agricultural production in the study area; hence the role of some socio-economic variables as well as assets such as social capital, landed-property, cash as well as savings are central in determining the participation level or perception on agricultural production.

This study was carried out to assess the activities of the women in Agriculture, an extension arm of Taraba state Agricultural Development Programme (TADP). The study was conducted in Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba state. The objective is to identify women agricultural activities aid by WIA component of TADP, among others, and established that the extent of women participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi is significantly high; land clearing, planting, fertilizer application, spraying of chemicals, weeding, harvesting, storage, feeding of animal/poultry and marketing are the major Women Agricultural Activities Aided by ADPs in Ibi; and poor technical know-how, inadequate infrastructural provision, non-involvement of programme beneficiaries in policy planning, poor funding, fund utilization, Government undue interference and time for women participation were the major ways women experienced challenges with Agricultural Development Projects in Ibi. Furthermore, it was also discovered from the study that majority of the respondents were into mulching and planting farming activities followed by land clearing. And the TADP agricultural activities were fertilizer application followed by planting and processing. It can be concluded from the study that there is a high-level ADP aided activities among the women farmer, a high extent of involvement of ADP in Women Agricultural Activities, a high extent of women participation in Agricultural Development Programmes and high level of challenges women experience with TADPs in Ibi. Hypothetically, the study revealed that there is a significant difference in the responses of women and TADP staff on the extent of women participation in Agricultural Development Programmes in Ibi.

Recommendations

As a matter of recommendations, agricultural development projects such as poultry farms, fishponds, veterinary clinics, agricultural extension offices, fertilizer distribution Centres, and poverty alleviation offices should be sited in rural areas by our political elite or well to do individuals so as to raise their standard of living. In addition, skilled manpower (especially extension staff) should be employed and would be encouraged to visit farmers on regular basis to teach them modern agricultural technology. If the farmers across the federation of Nigeria begin to put into use the new agricultural technology, there is likely to be an improvement in the growth of crop production. Furthermore, there is need to involve the programme beneficiaries in the design, planning and execution of projects. This will equally avoid top-down approach in policy co-ordination. It will also stimulate the interest of the beneficiaries or host community’s political atmosphere, as no meaningful development will take place in a country bedeviled by internal or external political and social strife. With peaceful political atmosphere and stability in leadership of the ADPs, the issue of poor policy performance which has been the bane of the development efforts of Nigeria will now be a thing of the past.

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