Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 14, No 5 (2018)

Abstract

Poverty encompasses deprivation in multiple welfare dimensions but only few poverty studies in Nigeria have put this in consideration, thus, this study investigates the determinants of multi-dimensional poverty among fishing households in south-western Nigeria. Data were obtained from 448 fishing households using structured questionnaire. Three coastal States (Ogun, Ondo and Lagos) and three Local Government Areas (LGAs) per State, resulting in 100 communities proportionally drawn from the study area. Socio-demographic data were obtained on thirteen identified welfare indicators. The Alkire-Foster’s dimension-adjusted poverty measure were computed (and compared with the uni-dimensional Foster-Greer-Thorbecke measure) while determinants of household multidimensional poverty were estimated using the logit regression model. A multi-dimensional poverty cut-off value of 8 was obtained out of the 13 indicators directly linked to welfare status of the households. Poverty headcount ratio was 0.6 while dimension-adjusted poverty incidence, depth and severity were 34.2%, 16.0% and 7.6%, respectively. Being fully engaged in fishing (0.13), using dugout canoes (0.11), and living on-shores (3.13) increased the probability of households’ multi-dimensional poverty while high educational attainment (-0.005), income (- 0.14) and land size (-0.11) reduced it. Engaging mainly in onshore activities (p=0.01), human capital endowment (p=0.10) and belonging to polygamous family contributed significantly (p = 0.01) to inequality in the poverty rates between the two coastal sub-population groups. Improved access to formal education and use of motorised canoes were recommended for reducing the poverty incidence among the fishing households.