The Effect of Rural Transport Infrastructure on Agricultural Productivity in Some Selected Local Governments of Oyo State

Loss of farm's productivity in the rural areas of Nigeria is becoming more alarming due to poor rural road infrastructure. This study examined the effect of rural transport infrastructure of agricultural produce on farmers' income. The study adopted multi-stage sampling technique; at stage one, 10 (ten) rural settlements were purposively selected within three (3) local governments of Oyo state, farmers in those settlements were stratified into two (2) strata; commercial and subsistence. A simple random technique was employed to drawn respondents from the selected settlements. 200 questionnaires were distributed and 190 were retrieved from individual respondents. Information was solicited in respect of rural road infrastructure and farmers' productivity. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the collected data. The result shows that the major crop grown in the area is yam and head loads were the major means of transportation. The further result showed the contribution of all the identified factors to the agricultural productivity was R2=60.2% with adjusted R= 57.9% at P<0.05. Therefore, about 39.8% cannot be accounted for as an area of contributions. It was recommended that much attention is needed in the rural areas of Nigeria to improve farmers' output and generate income. Communities and farmers' participation in rural development decisions-making should be embraced. Adequate rural allocation through annual budgets and implementing is required.