Community-based organizations and the provision of agricultural inputs for rural development in cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

With the rapid growth in Nigeria’s population, there has also been an increase in the demand for food. A major way of ensuring that food supply does not exceed demand is to invest in agriculture. Successive Nigerian governments have placed emphasis on agriculture as a means of ensuring food security. However, the extent to which this has translated into practice is debatable. Therefore, other agencies, of necessity, have begun to contribute to agricultural development. Such agencies include non-governmental organizations and community-based associations. This study therefore examined the role of such associations in rural development through the provision of agricultural inputs. The study sample was 807 accidentally selected samples of associates of community based associations in Cross River State, Nigeria. Data collection was done through a structured questionnaire, while the analysis was done using the simple regression statistical technique. .The result showed that there is a strong positive relationship between the activities of community based associations in the provision of agricultural input and rural development.

Keywords: Community-based Associations, agricultural input, rural development, food production, population