Socio –Economic Determinants of the Level of Social Capital among Small-Scale Farming Households in Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Socio-economic factors influencing the level of social capital among small-scale farming households inKogi State were investigated. A total of 352 farming households were randomly selected across the agriculturalzones in the state. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logit regression analysis were employed to analyse thedata. The study revealed that farming households belong to three levels of social capital comprising bonding(25%), bridging (12%) and linking (63%). The probability of farming household having bonding social capitalrelative to bridging social capital increases with sex of the head of household and position held in group, butreduces with age of household head (p< 0.05). In the same vein, the tendency of having linking social capitalamong farming households relative to bridging increases with farm size and amount of credit received by thehousehold as well as age, sex, and level of education of the household head (p< 0.05). The study concluded thatsocial capital level is influenced by the socioeconomic characteristics of the farming households. It is thereforerecommended that agricultural groups need to be strengthened and supported by government and the communitythrough services in the area of input supply, provision of credit facilities and farm land as well as education of thehousehold members.