Determinants of Participation in Non-farm Employment among Rural Farmers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

This study examined the determinants of participation in non-farm employment, and factors that influence income derived from non-farm employment among rural farmers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Primary data used in the study were obtained from 150 respondents’ selected employing multistage sampling technique. Multinomial logitand Tobit regression were used for the analysis. Findingsrevealed that farm households derive more income from non-farm sources (N288,585.7) relative to farm activities (N118,900). Crop income contribute more to farm income while income derived from forest (lumbering, hunting, firewood) contributed the least to farm income. Furthermore, income derived from being self-employed contributed the highest to non-farm income of households. Accordingly, 29.18% of total household income was derived from farming, out of which cropping accounted for 18.18%, livestock 8.53%, fishing 1.44% and forest income accounting for 0.25% respectively; while non-farm income share of total income stood at 70.82% out of which 2.27% participated in agricultural wage employment, 30.81% participated in non-agricultural wage employment, 33.10% participated in self-employment activities. Result of the multinomial regression analysis showed that age, farm size, educational level, household size, distance to the market, distance to the nearest urban center, access to electricity and availability of good drinking water were the dominant factors that influenced the choice of participation in non-farm employment in Ebonyi State. Also sex, level of education, size of farm income, and value of household assets were the dominant factors which influenced non-farm income in the study area. The study recommends the promotion of non-farm employment as a good strategy for supplementing the income of farmers throughtraining programmes directed towards training farmers in skills that can be used in non-farm employment and/or small and medium scale businesses (SME’s); while also improving infrastructure, credit and financial markets.