Households’ Perception of Factors Influencing Agricultural Productivity in Ogoni Community: An Ordinal Logit Approach

Abstract

Agriculture is the principal means of livelihood in Ogoniland of Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Ascertaining the determinants of agricultural productivity in the community is therefore important in meeting food security and income needs. This study uses survey data of 400 households in Ogoni community. The data was collected using a multistage sampling method. An ordinal logit regression model was estimated. Descriptive analyses indicate that 75.8% of the surveyed households were involved in agricultural production and that only 37.1% of the households involved in agriculture had lost their agricultural produce due to oil spoilage in the last two years. The ordinal logit regression model identifies government intervention towards cleaning of polluted land and water, land degradation, air pollution and household income as significant determinants of agricultural productivity in the community. However, land degradation and air pollution are negatively associated with agricultural productivity while government intervention towards cleaning of polluted land and water and household income are positively related to agricultural productivity in Ogoni community. On the other hand, the result indicates that corporate social responsibility of oil firms towards cleaning of polluted land and water), oil spill and education attainment of household head are not among the significant determinants of agricultural productivity in Ogoni community.

Keywords: Agriculture, Income, Participatory development, Oil spill, Land degradation, air pollution