Effect of Rural Infrastructure on Agricultural Production in Emohua LGA, Rivers State, Nigeria

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This study examined The Effect of Rural Infrastructure on Agricultural Production in Emohua LGA, Rivers State, Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers in the study area, identify the types of agricultural enterprises practiced by the farmers, determine the extent of availability of the rural infrastructures in the study area, determine the perceived effects of rural infrastructure on agricultural productivity in the study area and identify the constraints to agricultural production in the study area. With the aid of copies of structured questionnaire, data for the study were collected using multi-stage sampling procedure. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (mean scores). Result from the study showed that majority (53.2%) of the respondents were female, most (62.6%) of the farmers in the area were married, majority (41.8%) of the respondents had household size between 5-7 persons, majority (48.2%) of the sampled respondents had farming experience of above 12 years’, majority of the respondents (26.6%) acknowledged cassava farming as the main type of agricultural enterprise carried out in the study area. The most available rural infrastructure in the study area are pipe-borne water (𝑥̅2.71), and educational institutions (𝑥̅2.56) were perceived to be available in the study area. Tarred roads (𝑥̅3.29), electricity (𝑥̅3.41), pipe-borne water (𝑥̅3.30), processing facilities (𝑥̅2.65), health facilities (𝑥̅ 2.75), educational institutions (𝑥̅2.51), and telecommunication (𝑥̅2.56) were agreed to have significant effect on agricultural productivity. Inadequate infrastructure (𝑥̅3.44), low technology (𝑥̅2.91), limited finance (𝑥̅3.15), poor access to market (𝑥̅2.79), and land tenure (𝑥̅2.80) were agreed to be the major constraints to the agricultural productivity of farmers in the study area. The study concluded that rural infrastructure has perceived effect on agricultural production in the study area and recommended that more infrastructure should be sited in the rural areas; and the already existing infrastructure should be improved to standard as it has been shown to have significant effects on agricultural production.