ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION AND NON-FARM ACTIVITIES IN ORUK ANAM LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

This study analyzes non-farm activities and its impact on the welfare of the people in Oruk –Anam Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study include: to examine the major components of rural economic activities in the area; assess the diversification from farm to non- farm activities and compare the income levels from farm and non – farm activities in the study area. The study revealed that while the non-farm activities have a mean of 29.57 and variance of 479.95; farm activities have 25.57 as mean and 267.62 as variance. It indicates a significant difference because the p value (p>0.05) was less than 0.1 and 0.5 critical value at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that there is a significant difference between major components of the rural economic activities. The correlation coefficient of 0.73 (73%,) reveals that there is a high level of correlation between the activities. Hence, there is a significant difference between the major components of rural economic activities carried out by the people. It shows that 62.5% of the people engage in non- farm activities to increase their living standards, 25% in order to increase their income, 15% to be self reliant, 12.5% for the profit, 7.2% to change their social status, and 2.5% because of their passion to do other things. Hence, shifting attention to these activities could assist in the achievement of the goal of poverty reduction in the economy. It is concluded that rural livelihood diversification has a very important role to play in reducing poverty in the rural areas. On the basis of the results and findings of this study, the following recommendations were made: Rural households should engage in activities that would help them achieve the goal of reducing their state of poverty. Non-farm employment should be promoted as a good strategy for supplementing the income of farmers as well as sustaining equitable rural growth.