Abstract
The study assesses the livelihood assets of wetland farmers, the relationship between their status and resources with a view to improving on their social status in the region. The study employed primary and secondary data. Primary data explored 566 structured questionnaires administered on wetland users using the snow-ball method soliciting information on; respondents’ indicators of livelihood assets, resources, human capital, socio-economic characteristics, quality of dwelling and sanitation. Secondary data was sourced from conventional sources. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results show that over 70% of respondents were above 41 years of age and were predominantly small scale food-farmers. Furthermore, it was established that the depth of poverty in relation to the most valuable asset shows that 58.6% of the rich compared to 20.7% of the moderate poor and 20.7% of the poorest ranked households owned more than 10 ha of land. Similarly, result shows that 80.6% variance of associated factors gave the underlying reasons for the discriminant function which further affirm the relative nature of poverty in the study area. The implication of this is that a greater proportion of livelihood assets in Ede region were in the hands of the non-poor ranked households which has continued to widen the gap between the rich and the poor and if poverty has to be tackled, then the agricultural sector must be reformed to give the poor more access to livelihood support assets.
Key Words: Poverty, Housing conditions, Livelihood Assets, Discriminant analysis, Wetlands
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