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Many social characteristics of households relates to the poverty experienced by households. Hence, this study examined the poverty profile and social factors that relate with it among the farming households in Borno State, Nigeria. Using multistage sampling technique, 360 farming households were randomly sampled from 12 villages spread across six Local Government Areas of the three agro-ecological zones in the State. Primary data generated from farming households through well-structured questionnaires were mainly used for the study. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) P alpha measures of poverty. The monthly mean per adult equivalent household expenditure (MPAEHE) of the households was N2,972.77 out of which a poverty line of N1,982.84 was estimated. The FGT poverty measures showed that 62% of the farming households of the study area were poor; the average depth of the poor households from the poverty line was 44% of the poverty line, while 18% of the poor farming households were critically or severely poor. The findings revealed that poverty level among farming households increased with increase in the age of household heads, years of farming experience, household size; child dependency ratio and adult dependency ratio. On the other hand, poverty level decreased with increase in the household heads' years of formal education and number of extension contacts per season. The study further revealed that poverty level in the study area was relatively higher among households headed by males, married persons and among households whose heads were not member of any cooperative society. Based on these findings the study recommended that policies aimed towards increasing access of households to educational facilities and provision of better family planning should be given adequate attention.

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