Income and crop diversification among farming households in a rural area of north central Nigeria

E.E Envulus,S.O Oyewole,H Ibrahim,S.A Rahman

doi:10.4314/as.v8i2.51102

Abstract

Income and crop diversification have been identified as essential strategies for raising income and reducing rural poverty. Both strategies were analyzed based on empirical data collected from rural households. The analysis was done using the Simpson Index of Diversity (SID) and Ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis. The results revealed that diversification into a number of income sources and crops grown were very high. The determinants of income diversification were number of children less than 12 years old, number of adults above 60 years old, availability of electricity in the household and distance from local market. The determinants of crop diversification were, age and level of education of the household head, number of extension visits, availability of tractor hiring services and returns from crop production. Most households occupations in the study area were no longer agriculture based, however there willingness to diversify was significantly influenced by their socioeconomic characteristics. Key words: Income, Crop, Diversification, Rural area, Households

Highlights

Income diversification refers to an increase in the number of sources of income or the balance among the different sources
Diversity in sources of income To examine the diversity of income sources, household income was divided into five categories: crop, livestock, fisheries, nonfarm enterprises and wage income
A household that raises livestock can often reduce the cost of feed by growing its own grain and fodder; raising livestock near crop reduces the cost of producing crops by providing an inexpensive source of organic fertilizer (Minot et al, 2006)

Summary

Introduction

Income diversification refers to an increase in the number of sources of income or the balance among the different sources. Income diversification is defined as the process of switching from low value crop production to a higher value crop, livestock and non-farm activities. Distinction can be made between growth in crop income, non-crop agriculture income (livestock, fisheries, and forestry) and non-agriculture income which includes both off-farm wage labour and nonfarm self employment (Escobal, 2001). Given that semi subsistence farmers often focus on production of staple food crops, the switch to non-crop activities is often referred to as income diversification. Crop diversification refers to growing many crops at the same time. It is concerned with the switch from subsistence food production to commercial agriculture

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Conclusion