Livelihood Diversification Strategies among Rural Women in Selected Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Most poor rural house hold base their livelihood strategies on multiple activities to manage risky and stressful event, to achieve a sustainable stream of income over time, and to improve their wellbeing. It is on these bases, the study examined the livelihood diversification strategies among rural women in selected Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Nigeria. Primary data were collected using multiple random sampling techniques. Interview schedule was used elicit relevant information in line with the objectives of the study from one hundred and forty-four (144) respondents. Descriptive statistics and bar chart were used for the data analysis and presentations, the results indicate that majority of the respondents were married (63%) with mean house hold size of 9 people and only about half (51.40%) were having up to secondary education. Findings from the study also revealed that majority (90.3% and 89.6%) of the respondent’s reason for engaging in livelihood diversification is to improve their standard of living, to improve food security and to earn more income. The results also revealed majority of the respondents were engage in farm work in agriculture (75.7%) and off-farm self-employment (42.4%). Livestock farming (63.2%) was the highest diversification strategy employed by the respondent in the stud area. Other alternative diversification strategies includes gridding mills (49.30%) and small scale business enterprise and trading (40.30%). Lack of support for new income generation activities (91.7%) unavailability of credits (77.8%) were the major constraints. The study recommend that a function micro credit delivery system that will enable rural women to access loan in a simple and non-stressful way should be introduced in the study area to boast their financial capacity. This will play a significant role in increasing their income and enhanced their livelihood diversification activities. In addition, rural women should be trained on new and feasible business enterprises to open up opportunities for more livelihood diversification activities.