Perceived effect of livelihood diversification on the rural households in Niger State, Nigeria. In: V. Stange, O. Anand and J. Whalen (ed.)

Abstract

This study determined the perceived effect of livelihood diversification on welfare of rural household in Niger State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for sampling the respondents. Date used for the study were obtained from primary source. Structured questionnaire with interview schedule was administered to 180 randomly selected rural farmers in this study area. Descriptive study analysis and z-test statistics were used to analyze the data collected. The study revealed the mean age of the household to be 43 years, mean years of schooling was 8.5, mean household size was 6 people, mean farming experience of 17.5 years and mean farm size of 1.8 hectares. The effect of livelihood diversification revealed that livelihood diversification had positive and significant effect of food security (65.6%) and study area infrastructure, unavailability of credit and climatic risk and uncertainty. The study therefore recommended that rural household should be sensitized to diversify their income source into non-farm activities.