Perceived Effects of Livelihood Diversification on Farmers’ Household Poverty Status in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated perceived effects of livelihood diversification on farmers’ household poverty status in Ogun State. Data were collected from 132 farmers from the 4 agricultural zones of the state using multistage sampling procedure and snow ball approach. The study reported that majority of the farmers were above 40 years of age, males, married, had one form of education or the other, earned more than N100,000.00 annually and were having between 3–4 children. Also, cassava, maize, yam and green vegetable production are the most common agricultural related livelihood activities involved in by all the farmers. However, farmers’ involvement in non-agricultural activities was low. Major influencing factor to livelihood diversification was lack of credit facilities. The farmers perceived that diversifying livelihood activities will definitely enhance income generation of their household and it is a form of survival strategy of rural household especially in times of drought and famine. Farmers’ perception of the effect of diversifying on their livelihood activities on poverty status was high (  = 38.8). The study concluded that significant relationships exist between perceived effects of livelihood diversification on farmers’ poverty status and sex, educational level; factors influencing their involvement in diversification of livelihood activities; poverty status and possession of welfare attributes. The study therefore recommends that there is need for the urgent provision of basic infrastructure across the state and farmers should be trained in areas of enterprise combination for maximizing their profits with a better extension services and inputs.

Keywords: Perception, effects, livelihood, diversification, poverty