The study examined the influence of social capital dimensions on poverty status of rural farm
households in Abia state, Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was employed in
collecting data from two hundred and four (204) rural farm households in local institutions
using structured interview schedule. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics,
poverty indices, and tobit regression model. The result of social capital dimensions revealed
that households belong to at least two associations and had 32.4% index of membership
density. The percentage heterogeneity and decision making index were 50.78% and 77.82%
respectively, while percentage meeting attendance index of the households was 25.05%. The
percentage Cash and labour contribution index were low with values of 25.05% and 25.60%
respectively. The result of the poverty indicators of the rural farm households in local
institutions showed that the poverty line (mean monthly household expenditure) of the farm
households was N16,259.80 per month or N195,117.60 per annum. The incidence of poverty
otherwise called the head count ratio was 0.6863 while the coefficient of poverty gap
(poverty depth) was 0.4458. The tobit regression analysis result of marginal effect of the
changes in social capital factors on the probability of being poor among the farm households
revealed that four (cash contribution index, membership index, heterogeneity index and
decision making index) out of the 6 social capital variables included in the model had
significant negative coefficient at 1.0% alpha level except the coefficient of membership
index which was positive and significant at 10.0% risk level. In terms of policy, the
autonomous local institutions should be integrated into the current poverty alleviation
programme of the government and making them channels for loan delivery with a view to
strengthening the financial capacity of its members as well as achieving the Millennium
development goals of reducing poverty by half.