Analysis of Incomeand Expenditure Pattern of Rural Households in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper aims to compare the income of households' primary farmers with those of secondary farmers, to examine the expenditure pattern among the rural households and analyze the factors influencing the consumption pattern of rural householdsin Jema'a Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. A total of 149 households were selected through multistage sampling procedure. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics involving frequencies, mean, standard deviation and percentages were used. In addition, t-test, ANOVA, Regression Analysis and Duncan range test were carried out. The result showed that of the 149 households studied, 74.5% had farming as primary occupation while 25.5% had other occupations as primary occupation. Comparing the income and expenditure of both groups showed that there were significant differences suggesting that the households spent more than their declared incomes. This could mean that other sources of income might have not been captured. Looking at the spending habit of the households, the results showed that at 5% probability, there was a significant difference between the expenditure in the different categories of food, social, education,house maintenance, transportation, farm, health and miscellaneous. The Duncan Range Multiple test showed that the highest expenditure was on food followed by education, transport, farm inputs, house maintenance,health, social and miscellaneous expenses. The differences in the expenditure on education, social, health and farm were significant at 1% probability. We conclude that farming isprofitable since the income from farming and the income from other jobs were significant at 5% probability.