The Socio-Economic Impact of Fadama III Project in Taraba State: A Case Study of Jalingo Local Government Area

Fadama is a Hausa name for flood plains and shallow aquifers found along Nigerian major river systems. The National Fadama Development Project (NFDP) is a Community Driven Development (CDD) project of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It is jointly funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the World Bank with counterpart funding by states and local governments. The project is agricultural based that aim at increasing the income of fadama lands and water resource users to reduce rural poverty, increase food security and empower rural communities through Fadama Community Associations (FCAs) and Fadama User Groups (FUGs). The first phase of the project is popularly known as the National Fadama Development Project I (NFDP I). It was executed between the years 1993 and 1999, and focused mainly on the promotion of simple low-cost irrigation technologies in the bid to increase food production but largely neglected the down-stream activities such as; processing, preservation, conservation, and rural infrastructure meant to ensure efficient evacuation of farm produce to the markets. Also, the project did not take into consideration the farmers involved in other areas of agriculture like; livestock and fisheries. This resulted in not only perpetual conflict between users, but restricted benefits to only those who were involved in crops production (NFDP 2007). At the completion of the project phase in 2001, the Nigerian Government adopted new rural development strategies, which was in line with African Development Bank’s strategic plan that had as its focus a number of approaches to development. The plan stressed the need for consistency, sustainability and greater equity in the access to benefits of the land resources in fadama areas of the country. Consequently, the Bank deemed it necessary to agree to Nigerian Government’s request for funding phase II of the project not only as a follow-up of the phase I, but also to expand its scope (NFDP Appraisal Report 2003). 

The design of phase two of the project, that is National Fadama Development Project II (NFDPI I) which operated between 2004 and 2009, therefore incorporated a Community Driven Development (CDD) approach in which various fadama users (crop farmers, hunters, pastoralists, women, youths, vulnerable groups and so on) operating through their respective fadama community associations, oversees the design and implementation of the project and are empowered through skills and capacity buildings to improve their livelihoods by increasing income generation activities. 

The National Fadama Development Project II, had six (6) main components, which are;

1. Capacity building, local government and communication 
2.  Small community owned infrastructure 
3.  Advisory services and input support development 
4.  Support to Agricultural Development Programs (ADPs), sponsor Researches and on-farm demonstration 
5.  Asset acquisition for individual fadama user group/Economic interest group 
6.  Project management, monitoring and evaluation.

In general, the midterm review (MTR) report 2007 indicated quite positive accomplishment of the fadama II project in all the components of the project. In this regard, the World Bank’s Board of Director in July 2008, approved the implementation of the third phase of the project as a follow-up to the relatively successfully implemented fadama II project. This is both in scope and implementation approach. 

National Fadama Development Project III (NFDP III) is a comprehensive five years action program, commencing from the year 2008. It sought to increase income of 70% of her participants by at least 40% before completion in the year 2013. It seeks to reduce rural poverty and increase food security in the State. After five years of its operation in the State, there is need to examine the socio-economic impact of the project so as to appreciate its effectiveness or otherwise towards achieving its set objectives. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the socio-economic impact of Fadama III project in Jalingo LGA. This was achieved through the following specific objectives; 

1. To examine the socio-economic characteristics of the project participants.

 2. To examine the impact of the project on participants’ farm output and income level.

 3. To examine the level of involvement of participants in the design and implementation of the project in their community. 

4. To identify the problems militating against effective implementation of the NFDP III in Jalingo. 

To achieve the above objectives, the study hypothesis is stated as follows; 

1. Ho1: There is no significant difference between annual farm outputs of Fadama III participants before and during the project lifespan.

 2. Ho2: there is no significant difference between annual farm income of Fadama III participants before and during the project lifespan.