Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the influence of technological innovations on poverty incidence and its effects on agricultural development in West Africa. Study indicates some degree of poverty incidence in the country which has resulted in a sluggish feedback effect on agricultural development in the country.

Paper long abstract:

This study examined the influence of agricultural innovations technology on poverty and the feedback effect of prevalent poverty incidence on agricultural development in West Africa. The study used 25 year period (1991 - 2015) panel data sourced from the World Bank's World Development indicators, United States Department of Agriculture, Penn World Table and Statistics on Public Expenditure for Economic Development. The data used for the Study were agriculture value added (% of Gross Domestic Product), poverty headcount ratio at $1.9 a day, farm mechanization, agricultural expenditure, Irrigation, human capital and telecommunication technology. The findings of this study indicates a regional prevalence of poverty in West Africa despite the increasing trend of agricultural technology innovations. Also, the contribution of agriculture, value added (% of Gross Domestic Product) was observed to be increasing at a decreasing rate. Furthermore, the result reveals significant linear effects of the prevalent poverty situations on agricultural development and agricultural development on the other hand significantly contribute to poverty exit in West Africa. The study concluded that enhancing agricultural development is the critical entry-point in designing effective poverty reduction strategies. Yet, to maximize the poverty reducing effects, the right agricultural innovation technology such as irrigation, mechanization and human capital must be pursued.