EFFECT OF OFF-FARM INCOME DIVERSIFICATION ON LIVELIHOOD OF SMALL-SCALE CROP FARMERS IN SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study analyzed the effect of off-farm income activities on livelihood of small-scale crop farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the small-scale crop farmers; examine their off-farm income activities, livelihood status and constraints mitigating small-scale farmers to diversify into off-farm activities in the study area. Multi-stage random sampling procedure was employed to select 241small-scale crop farmers on which structured questionnaire was administered. Primary data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages and mean, and inferential statistics such as Tobit regression. Livelihood index was used to examine the livelihood status of the farmers. Findings from the study revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 49year, mean household size was 7 people, mean farming experience was 12.5 years and mean farm size was 2.10 hectares. Meanwhile, 68.9% of the respondents were males, 83.4% were married and 61.0% had formal education with a mean of 9 years in formal schooling. The major off-farm income activities of the respondents examined were marketing (51.9%), petty trading (23.2%) and commission agents (18.7%) ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Based on the livelihood index classification, majority (75.1%) of the respondents were found to have low livelihood status. Tobit regression result revealed that sex (1.76, p<0.1), household size (2.97, p<0.01), education (4.16, p<0.01), experience (2.25, p<0.05), farm size (2.03, p<0.05), access to credit (2.16, p<0.05), extension contact (2.24, p<0.05), cooperative (3.84, p<0.01) and off-farm income (10.40, p<0.01) were statistically significant, thus had effect on livelihood status of the small-scale crop farmers. Major constraints identified to mitigate against diversification into off-farm income activities were inadequate capital (X ̅=4.46), climatic risk and uncertainties (X ̅=3.97) and poor marketing facilities (X ̅=3.80) ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively among others. In conclusion, the small-scale farmers were in their most productive stage of life where they could engaged in off-farm income activities which has significant effect on the livelihood status of the small-scale crop farmers in the study area. It was therefore recommended that credit facilities should be provided for small-scale farmers by financial institutions in order to increase their participation in off-farm income activities.