Empirical Analysis of Rural Livelihoods' Choices among Farming Households in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed rural livelihoods with a view to investigating factors determining the choice of rural livelihoods in Southwestern Nigeria. A five-stage sampling procedure was used to select 400 farming households from Osun and Ekiti state. The collected primary data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square statistics, income portfolio analysis, and a multinomial logit model. The results show that the age of household heads was 51.9±11.4 years, while the household size was 8±2.9 persons. On_farm (3.6%), On_farm-Off_farm (17.8%), On_farm-Non_farm (19.7%) and On_farm-Off_farm-Non_farm (58.9%) were the choices of livelihoods pursued. Improved socio-economic factors, including farm size (17.79^*), education (12.11^*), and access to credit (7.97^*), were found to be associated with the choice of on-farm livelihoods. Farm size increased the probability of specializing in on-farm livelihoods. Therefore, the land use act should be reviewed in such a way as to provide inclusive access to land for would-be farmers.