Impact of Community and Social Development Projects (CSDP) on the economic performance of Cassava Farmers in Edo State, Nigeria

The dearth of infrastructural facilities in rural communities continues to impede on agricultural productivity, thereby complicating the profitability and efficiency of the rural farmers. This study examined the impact of the Community and Social Development Projects (CSDP) interventions in rural communities on the economic performance of cassava farmers in Edo State, Nigeria. The data used in the study were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of cassava farmers in the state. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 479 farmers for this study. The sampled farmers consist of 245 cassava farmers from CSDP beneficiary communities and 234 cassava farmers from non-beneficiary communities. Net farm income, land, labour productivities and technical efficiency were the key economic performance evaluated. Land productivity (x ̅ = 8969.97 to 9007.61), labour productivity (x ̅ =251.22 to 284.52) were significant (p<0.05). The difference in beneficiary communities farmers and non-beneficiary farmers net farm income per hectare (N561,284 to N533,448) was significant at p>0.05 level. Regression analysis showed that farm size (b = 1.436), labour (b = 0.143) and cassava cuttings (b = 0.301) were significant (p<0.05) and positively affected the output of cassava among farmers in the beneficiary communities and recorded higher technical efficiency of 96.5%. Healthcare centres and boreholes projects contributed positively to technical efficiency of the farmers. Thus the paper recommends that Healthcare centres and boreholes should be extended to more farming communities as these increases the efficiency of the farmers. Cassava farming should be encouraged in the state because of the profitability and ability to alleviate poverty among the rural populace. The Community Driven Development (CDD) approach adopted by the CSDP should also be adopted by the State and Local Government in project execution in the State. This bottom – up approach of the CDD gives better access to projects. In CDD programs, communities determine their own development, agenda and implement externally funded development projects by themselves.