Socioeconomic Determinants of Off-Farm Income Generating Activities Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in Anambra State

Abstract

The study examined the socio-determinants of off-farm income among small-holder rice farmers in Anambra State. Specifically, it described socio-economic characteristics, off-farm income generating activities, and level of participation in various off-farm income generating activities in the study area. Multistage sampling procedure involving purposive and random sampling methods were used to select two agricultural zones, four LGAs, eight communities, thirty smallholder rice farmers and two hundred and forty (240) respondents for the study. Primary data were collected by means of structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (means, frequency distribution, percentages, tables and mean ranking) and Simpson participation index. Findings showed that majority of the farmers are within the age limit of 41-50 years and majority had no access to credit due to bottleneck activities and collateral requirements in obtaining the loan from most financial institution. Result on off-farm income generating activities showed that many of the smallholder rice farmers are into trading (54.2%), handcraft (52.5%), repair (50.8%) and many others that help them to generate extra income in the study area. Result of level of off farm participation by smallholder rice farmers revealed that moderate level of off-farm income participation had a high percentage of 52.5% with mean value of 0.49. Thus, smallholder rice farmers participated in off-farm income generation activities moderately. Government should of necessity address the issue of fuel subsidy removal which has a gross effect on the movement of farmers and insufficient extension workers in the State should be addressed by relevant stake holders were recommended. Keywords: Determinants, off-farm, Income, rice farmers.