Evaluation of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Interventions on Sustainable Rural Livelihood Improvement in Niger State

Abstract

The study evaluates the contributions of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) interventions on sustainable rural livelihood improvement in Niger State, Nigeria. The research design adopted for the study is descriptive survey research design, with a total population of seven hundred and eighty four (784) comprising of all the participants in the on-going IFAD Interventions in the selected three Local Government Areas (Bidda, Shiroro and Kontagora) as at 2025. One hundred and eighty (180) respondents were selected from the entire population as the sample using stratified simple random sampling. The instrument used in collecting data was a researcher made questionnaire, named; IFAD-RLIQ. The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validity test by three experts, one in the field of test and measurement as well as two from the field of rural and community development. The findings revealed that, majority of the beneficiaries agreed that IFAD intervention, emphasised the provision of land, vegetation and biodiversity, promotion of social networks, acquisition of new skills, ability to labour, promotion of savings and access to credit facilities for their livelihood improvement. The findings from the research also reveled that, security challenges is one of the major factors affecting the effective implementation of the Interventions. Part of the recommendations made by the researcher were: IFAD should explore more platforms to promote dialogue and cooperation among relevant institutions and stakeholders for rural livelihood improvement; governments at all levels should fulfil their responsibilities in terms of improving the security and providing the contributory funds on time for the effective implementation of the Interventions.