Abstract
The study examined socioeconomic effects of land grab on farming HH heads in Delta Central Agricultural Zone of Delta State, Nigeria. Ten percent (10%) of identified farming HH heads were involved in the study. Most (50.37%) of the respondents had farms of the sizes of between 0.10 and 1.99ha with a mean farm size of 2.4ha. Their mean farm income was N400, 000. Most (84.44%) of them were employed by the agricultural investors after their plots of land were grabbed; 52.59% had fair health status. Sizes of land grabbed from individual farmers ranged between 0.10 and 5.99ha. The lands grabbed were for plantation agricultural, and food crops production. Few of the land deals (24.44%) were sealed with the involvement of the farmers and the investors and the farmers were adequately compensated. The results of the hypothesis showed that land grab had negative effects on farming HH heads’ socio-economic variables of farm size, farm income, employment status, health status and social status. It was recommended that land deals should involve the investors, government, community leaders and the land holders.
