摘要：The first goal of the sustainable development goals is to terminate poverty by 2030, and the West African countries are working assiduously to achieve this goal. Poverty remains a global challenge that is yet to be completely overcome. However, since 1990, the rate of poverty has been reduced by more than half globally. That is, the number of individuals living in poverty reduced from 1.9 billion people in 1990 to 836 million in 2015. However, the poverty rate is still high in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), as it represents about 40% of the worldwide poverty rate. This study examined the feasibility of poverty reduction programmes through a well-coordinated social protection policy on agriculture. The data for this study were obtained from international organizations (WDI, ILO, CPIA and UNESCO) covering a period between 2007 and 2017. The study engaged the Generalised Method of Moments technique on the selected variables. The results showed that a positive relationship exists between agriculture value added, employment, inequality and poverty while social protection and literacy level showed a negative relationship with poverty reduction. The study recommended that the governments of the ECOWAS member nations should enforce necessary forums to enlighten farmers on the importance of practising mechanised farming and the need for social protection.
关键词：agriculture; employment; social protection; sustainable development goals;
poverty
