Assessment of socio-economic status of rural households in onicha local government area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria

The study assessed the socio-economic status of rural households in Onicha local government area (LGA) of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Data were collected from 120 household heads using multistage random and purposive sampling techniques with the aid of structured questionnaire. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics. The results obtained showed that poverty was higher among low socio-economic status households with poverty indices of 64%, 40% and 30% as incident, depth and severity, respectively. The material possession and living condition of the households showed that 60.8% of households live in mud zinc roofed building without electricity (19.2%), which is a reflection of high incidence of poverty. Poor income generation from agricultural sector with 90.8% response was identified as the factor predisposing households to low socio-economic status. The strategies adopted by the households for coping with poverty were: selling of the asset (85%), packing of leftover food at social function (74.2%), processing of farm produce (56.7%), and purchasing food on credit (62.5%). The study recommended that financial institutions and government should improve households’ access to rural credit and rural infrastructure development and that the households should complement farm income by diversifying non-farm activities.