EVALUATING FADAMA III DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN KANO STATE, NIGERIA: USING DIFFERENCE IN DIFFERENCE ESTIMATION WITH PROPENSITY SCORE MATCHING APPROACH

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of Fadama III development Project on rural poor farmers in Danbatta local government area of Kano state. The study adopted exploratory research, population of this study is made up of 362 household farmers in Danbatta local government area that are Fadama III development project beneficiaries. The study employed difference in difference approach by capturing the before and after period of intervention of Fadama III development project and propensity score matching to compare the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries with similar covariate or propensity score index, the Data were analyzed using STATA version 14.0. The result shows that marital status, education level and farming experience significantly influence treatment (participation) in Fadama III project by 21%, 37% and 65% respectively while household size does not influence treatment (participation) in Fadama III project. Also, the observed heterogeneities were able to predict treatment (participation) at 71%. And also, household income and productivity have increased; hence the study recommends the need for training sessions in order to employ strategies to reflect best management practices in order to ensure sustainability in agricultural productivity, satisfactory support of storage facilities, awareness creation of insurance policies in agricultural productivity and lastly, improvement in agricultural technologies to increase crop yields.