Fadama III as a Poverty Reduction Programme in Benue State: A Review

Abstract

As the quest to see poverty reduced to the lowest minimum continues, the government at various levels in
Nigeria have come to realise the need for leverage on development assisted programmes that will help meet
this need. This paper examined Fadama III as a poverty reduction programme in Benue State: a review.
Findings revealed certain components of the Fadama III programme that help reduce poverty in Benue
State. Specifically, results showed that capacity building, communications and information support as well
as rural infrastructure are essential components that help in poverty reduction in the study area.
Furthermore, findings revealed that to help develop a saving culture among Fadama User Groups (FUGs),
there is need to establish a savings scheme in order to promote community level capitalization as well as to
ensure sustainability of the investment activities with the matching grants and counterpart funds.
Nonetheless, results also delineate some challenges of the progarmme and due to these findings, it was
therefore recommended that administrators of the programme give proper attention to issues relating to
timely disbursement of the programme grant as this is a major setback identified in the implementation of
the programme in Benue State