Abstract

Rural dwellers’ livelihoods are primarily based on subsistence agriculture which often predisposes them to poverty, especially in situation when there is harvest failure. Livelihood diversification is considered a strategy that could serve as palliative and enhance access to food in rural households. In this study, contribution of livelihood diversification to household food security among rural dwellers in Osun State was investigated. A four-stage sampling procedure was used to select 165 rural dwellers. Structured interview schedule was used to collect data on respondents’ socioeconomic characteristics, livelihood activities diversified into, and household food security status. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi square, PPMC and linear regression at p=0.05. Respondents were aged 36.96±12.79 years, with household size of 5.38±3.51 persons. Farming experience and monthly income were 9.10±11.42 years and ?30,833.30±19,016.45, respectively. Most (62.9%) of the respondents diversified into non-farm activitiesand more than half (63.6%) of the respondents were food secure. They were however constrained to diversifyby inadequate capital (1.82±0.52), poor market access (1.47±0.68) and lack of access to credit facilities (1.17±0.76). Respondents’ educational level (?²= 11.772) and years of farming experience (r= 0.229) were significantly related to household food security. Food processing (? = 0.199), crop farming (? = 0.036) and driving (?= 0.169) among diversified livelihood activities were found to contribute to household food security. Level of diversification was high among rural households and they were mostly food secure. Both state and non-state actors are enjoined to strengthen rural households in areas of processing and crop farming to further enhance their livelihood diversification.

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