The Determinants of Livelihood Diversification among Rural Farming Households in Toungo Local Government Area, Adamawa State, Nigeria.

Abstract

To meet their food and other needs, rural households engage in livelihood diversification initiatives. The study looked at factors affecting people's decisions to diversify their sources of income in Toungo Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria. 250 respondents, were picked using multi-stage sample to provide data for the studies. Descriptive and inferential statistics like logit regression model and Simpson index of diversity were utilized as analytical tools. The study's findings showed that 76.40% of respondents were married and 80.40% were men. 76% of them were educated, and 72.40% had farming as their main occupation. The distribution of respondents based on livelihood activities, indicates that 86% of respondents were engaged in the farming of arable crops, followed by 56% in the sale of animals, 18% in the employment of civil service, and 77.20% in some sort of non-farm activity. In terms of the degree of livelihood diversification, only 6% were highly diverse, compared to 40% who had a low level of diversification. Results of the Logit regression reveals that there was positive relationship between six out of eight variables that are independent with dependent variable. The six variables were age, marital status, family size, formal education years, credit availability, and income were each statistically significant at varying levels. Strengthening livelihood diversification techniques in the research area is therefore necessary to increase household food and non-food security.