Abstract
This study examines the influence of off-farm employment on production efficiency of farm household in Southwest Nigeria. The study was based on primary data collected from a cross-section of 489 rural farm households, drawn by multi-stage random sampling from Ogun and Oyo States, in Southwest Nigeria. The data was analysed by descriptive and econometric techniques, including specification and estimation of a conditional revenue frontier and a production inefficiency equation. The results showed that 47.1% of the rural farm households had some of their members involved in off-farm activities with a typical member devoting 34.3% of his/her work efforts to off farm activities, while off farm activities contributed 27.6% of a typical farm household’s labour income (N282, 263.54 in 2005/2006). Increase in off-farm labour supply was found to be associated with significant (p < 0.01) reduction in production in-efficiency among the rural farm households. The study also found that farm household production efficiency is significantly enhanced by increasing the share of tree crops and livestock in farm household farming activities, having access to land by leasing and operating a much more consolidated landholdings. However, remittances from rural out-migrants do not significantly affect rural farm household production efficiency. JEL code: J2, Q1, R2
Highlights
Nigeria, a nation once flaunted as the “Giant of Africa”, is at present battling with a rising incidence of unemployment and poverty, with as much as 21.1% of the economically active people reported as unemployed in 2010 (NBS, 2011) while 64.4% of the populace lived below the US$1.25 income poverty line in 2008 (UNDP, 2010)
Household composition and personal factors like education level, gender and nativity of household heads as well as gender/youth factors in the households exercise little or no influence on production efficiency of rural farm households in the study area. This central theme of this study has been to examine the influence of off-farm labour supply among members of rural farm households on farm household production efficiency in Southwest Nigeria
The study was based on primary data collected from a cross-section of 489 rural farm households, drawn by multi-stage random sampling from Ogun and Oyo States, in the Southwest rain-forest zone of Nigeria
Summary
A nation once flaunted as the “Giant of Africa”, is at present battling with a rising incidence of unemployment and poverty, with as much as 21.1% of the economically active people reported as unemployed in 2010 (NBS, 2011) while 64.4% of the populace lived below the US$1.25 income poverty line in 2008 (UNDP, 2010). Rural– urban migration in Nigeria has meant that the rural areas are often left with a demographically unbalanced population of women, younger children, and older people (Okali et al, 2001; DFID, 2004). It denies the rural sector the much-needed human capital, reduces availability of farm labour (Ogwumike and Aramolaran, 2000), and thereby tends to weaken productivity and income levels in the sector. The fact that unemployment level in Nigeria is much higher in the urban sector than what obtains in the rural areas is worrisome
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