Abstract

Chikwendu, Adamma Chioma and Nwalieji, Hyacinth Udeanya

The study assessed occupational diversification among small-scale rice farm families in Anambra State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 120 respondents. Data were collected from primary source through the use of validated interview schedule. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics while hypothesis was tested using t-test. Findings showed that rice farmers mainly diversified their occupation in crop production, followed by crop processing under agricultural enterprise, while in nonagricultural enterprise, diversified mainly in petty trading. The mean annual income of rice production, agriculture and non-agriculture enterprises were �?�289,683.33, �?�260,266.66 and�?�343,500.00, respectively, and there was significant difference (t= 12.346, p≤ 0.05) between the mean scores of the annual income from rice production and non-agricultural enterprises, but no significant difference (t= 1.886, p > 0.05) existed between the mean scores of the annual income from rice and agricultural enterprises. The major reasons for diversification were increase in income, poverty reduction, food security and overcome/reduce risk of crop failure. Major problems included inadequate finance/credit facilities, poor skill acquisition, market risk and poor access to modern technology/capital. The need to increase farmers’ access to credits for start-off and more investments in other better yielding enterprises was recommended.