Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences (JOAFSS); Vol.18, No.

2, 2020

LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION CHOICES OF FOREST DWELLERS IN

ONIGAMBARI FOREST RESERVE, OYO STATE, NIGERIA
BY
¹Jatto, K.A*, ²Adeoye, A.S., ¹Akanni, O.F., Ogunbela, A.A., ²Falana, A.R., ²Ogunwale, O.G
3

and ²Ojo-Fakuade, F.F

¹Department of Forest Economics and Extension,
Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Jericho Hill, Ibadan, Nigeria
²Federal College of Forestry, Jericho Hill, Ibadan, Nigeria
Forest Based Rural Resource Center, Ikija, Nigeria
3

*E-mail for correspondence: jattodayo@yyaooo comy

ABSTRACT
The study assessed the livelihood diversification choices of forest dwellers in Onigambari Forest Reserve, Oyo
State, Nigeria. A multi-staged sampling technique was used to select ninety-five (95) respondents while data was
collected using structured questionnaires. The data generated from the survey were analysed using descriptive
statistics and a multinomial logistic regression model. The descriptive result revealed that a slight majority (52.63%)
of the households were headed by males and that the average age of the respondents stood at 54.4 years with 86.32%
of them having formal education. Farming is the predominant occupation in the study area with the majority
(54.74%) of the households engaged in a combination of farm and non-farm activities, 30.53% of them engaged in
only non-farm activities. The factors influencing the choice of non-farm strategy are: having at least secondary
education (p<0.01) which was positive and significant while the gender of household head (p<0.01) was negative
and significant. Concerning the choice of the combination of farm and non-farm strategy as a livelihood option,
marital status (p<0.01) and having at least secondary education (p<0.05) were positive and significant while age of
household head (p<0.01) was negative and significant. It is therefore, recommended that quality credit accessibility
and participation in skills acquisition programmes through diversification should be provided due to their capability
of improving household welfare.
Keywords: Livelihood diversification, Forest dwellers, Farm, Non-farm, Households.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/joafss.v18i2.9

INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is the main source of livelihood in Nigeria, especially in the rural areas. and
is plagued with various problems (Adepoju and Obayelu, 2013). As a result, most of the rural
households are poor and are beginning to diversify their livelihoods into off and non-farm
activities as a relevant source of income. The farm sector employs about two-thirds of the
country’s total labour force and provides a livelihood for about 90% of the rural population.
Despite agriculture being the major occupation, the non-farm sector plays several roles in the
development of the rural sector (Lanjouw, 2001).
Millions of people around the world depend on forests for medicine, raw materials, fuel,
income and food. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) (2001), estimates that 500 million
people live in or near forests, and in some places; forests are the primary source of food. But
almost everywhere, forests provide regular supplements to people’s diets. In many developing
countries, forest foods represent a much-needed safety net, helping people get by between
harvest seasons, when crops fail or during times of droughts, famines or social strife. In some

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 Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences (JOAFSS); Vol.18, No.2, 2020

areas, forests support livestock production by providing fodder, and in others, for example,
coastal mangrove swamps – they support local fisheries (Jonah et al., 2013).
The contribution of forest and forest resources to sustainable livelihoods cannot be
overemphasized. They remain significant to many development efforts and are critical to the
reduction of poverty and hunger. They provide a livelihood to a greater proportion of the world’s
population. Forest provides a household with income, fuelwood, and food security. It also
reduces vulnerability to shocks and adversities and generally increases wellbeing (Eric et al.,
2014). A study by (International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] 2015) points to the
fact that forest resources form the basis of the livelihoods of forest fringe communities and the
development of the fringe communities. The study has therefore established that the inhabitants
of forest enclaves derive products such as canes, pestles, mushrooms, wild animals and fish, as
well as snails from the forests and water bodies.
Many forest-dependent households employ a diversity of means to help meet basic needs:
food and cash crop production, forest and tree product gathering and income-earning enterprises
both on and off the farm. Often, the poorer the household, the more diverse the sources of their
livelihood, as the needs for the year must be made up from various off-farm as well as on-farm
activities, and often from migrant labour (Shepherd et al., 1999).
Livelihood diversification refers to attempts by individuals and households to find new
ways to raise incomes and reduce environmental risk, which differ sharply by the degree of
freedom of choice (to diversify or not) and the reversibility of the outcome. Livelihood
diversification includes both on- and off-farm activities which are undertaken to generate income
additional to that from the main household agricultural activities, via the production of other
agricultural and non-agricultural goods and services or self-employment in small firms, and other
strategies undertaken to spread risk (Mugagga et al., 2010). According to Ellis and Allison
(2004), livelihood diversification strategies are the combination of activities that people choose
to undertake to achieve their livelihood goals.
In Nigeria, the agricultural sector is plagued with problems that include soil infertility,
infrastructural inadequacy, risk and uncertainty and seasonality among others. Thus, rural
households are forced to develop strategies to cope with increasing vulnerability associated with
agricultural production through diversification, intensification and migration or moving out of
farming (Ellis, 2000).
Hence, with the incessant forest exploitation caused by human activities and in which the
government and other relevant agencies have been discouraging the depletion of forest
resources.Very few studies have examined the choice of livelihood diversification strategies
adopted by the forest dwellers. This study, therefore, seeks to examine the factors influencing the
choice of preferred livelihood diversification strategies among the forest dwellers in Onigambari
Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria.
METHODOLOGY
Study area
The study was conducted in villages around Onigambari Forest Reserve located in the
Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo state. Onigambari is one of the early forest reserves in
the state and it is divided into 5 series namely: Onigambari, Busogboro, Onipe, Olonde and

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 Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences (JOAFSS); Vol.18, No.2, 2020

Mamu. Onigambari forest reserve is a lowland forest reserve which is located between latitude
7 o 25' N and 7 o 55' N and longitude 3o 53' E and 3o 9' E. It is situated at the southern part of Ibadan
bounded on the west by River Ona and on the east by the main road of Ibadan to Ijebu-ode. The
reserve is bounded by Abanla and Odo-ona settlements in the Oluyole Local government area of
Oyo state. The target populations of the study are the rural dwellers in the selected villages
around the Onigambari Forest Reserve of Oluyole Local Government in Oyo state. The reserve
has been reduced to a secondary high forest dominated by trees like Mansonia altissima,
Triplochiton scleroxylon, Terminalia superba, Sterculia spp, Terminalia ivorensis and Cola spp;
the planted area is dominated by Tectona grandis and Gmelina arborea. The reserve provides 5
major NTFPs namely fuelwood, sponge, snails, leave and ropes (Larinde and Olasupo, 2011;
Banjo et al, 2018).
Sampling procedures and sampling size
A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the representative forest dwellers
within the study area. The first stage involved the purposive selection of the Gambari axis based
on proximity to the forest reserve. The second stage involved the random selection of five
villages (Amosun, Oloya, Onipede, Abanla and Olonde). Lastly, from each of the selected
villages, nineteen (19) households were randomly selected to give a total of ninety-five (95)
respondents for the study.
Method of data collection
Data for this study were collected in the year 2020 from both primary and secondary
sources. The primary collection involved the use of structured questionnaires to obtain
information on household socio-economic status, livelihoods assets, and livelihood
diversification strategies. Both individual (age, gender, education, and pieces of training) and
household (income, household size, education of household head and, access to credit) socio-
economic characteristics were considered in the study. Secondary data were sourced from
journals, textbooks, conference proceedings, and the internet.
Analytical Techniques
Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency distribution tables, and percentages were
used to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents.
The multinomial logistic regression model was used to determine the factors influencing the
choice of preferred livelihood diversification strategies among the forest dwellers in Onigambari
Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria. When there is a dependent categorical variable, the
multinomial logistic regression model is commonly used. It is a simple extension of the binary
logistic model that allows for more than two categories of the dependent variable. The model
was adopted as used by Adepoju and Obayelu, (2013); Owonbo and Idumah, (2015); and
Kimengsi et al., (2019) with some modifications.
The Multinomial Logistic Regression Model (MNL) was based on probability of livelihood
choice, j, from alternative J choices. The reduced form MNL was specified as:

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 Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences (JOAFSS); Vol.18, No.2, 2020

exp ( X i a j )
Pij =Pr ( y i= j )= J
, j=1,2,3 ,… , J
∑ exp ( X i a n )
n=1

Where:
y i = 3 nominal categories of livelihood choices adopted by the respondents:
y 1 = those who adopt farm strategy alone;
y 2 = those who adopt non-farm strategy alone; and
y 3 = those who adopt both farm and non-farm strategy.
a = Vector of unknown coefficients.
The independent variables are:
X 1 = Gender (1 = Male, 0 = Female)
X 2 = Age of household head (Years)
X 3 = Household size (Numbers)
X 4 = Marital status (1 = Married, 0 = If otherwise)
X 5 = Education of household head (Years)
U = Error term

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents
Table 1 presents the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. Results revealed a
slight majority (52.63%) of the households was headed by males and 47.37% are headed by
females. This is in line with the work of Aluko et al. (2019) who reported that most household
heads are usually male because they are known to be the head of the family except in cases
where the male is dead,leaving the household head’s position for the wife. The majority
(55.79%) of the respondents were in the age range of between 41-60 years, followed by those
between 61 and 80 years (34.74%). The average age of the respondents stood at 54.4 years in the
study area.

Concerning the educational status of the respondents, a substantial percentage (45.26%)

of the respondents had secondary education, followed by primary education (37.89%) and
tertiary education (3.16%) while only 13.68% had no formal education. This implies that
86.32%) of them are educated. The table also shows that the majority (71.58%) of the dwellers
were married. This implies that a greater percentage of the dwellers had families indicating
stability. Stability creates a conducive environment for good citizen training, development of
personal integrity and entrepreneurship which is important for efficient use of resources (Njoku
and Offor, 2016; Nwaru, 2004). Most (68.42%) of the respondents had a household size of
between 6-10 members with an average household size of about 6 members. Also, the majority
(56.84%) of the respondents has a farm size of between 1 and 5 hectares of land, whereas; the
average farm size is 5.8 hectares. This reveals that the respondents are medium-scale farmers in

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the study area. Also, the majority (69.47%) of the respondents did not receive any form of credit
while 30.53% of them received credit in the study area. This implies that they have no other
means to access credit, or purchase inputs in bulk which can reduce the total cost of their
operation (Babatunde et al., 2015).
Highlights of the occupational analysis of the respondents revealed that 45.26% of the
respondents were engaged in farming as their primary occupation, indicating that farming is the
predominant occupation in the study area. This is expected as most households in the rural areas
depend mainly on agriculture as their primary source of livelihood. Trading accounted for
24.21%, artisans (20%) while those that are employed represent 10.53% of the sampled
respondents. However, literature has shown that a diverse income portfolio creates more income
and distributes income more evenly. Thus, it is easier to adopt the combined livelihood strategies
than switching full time between either of them (Ellis, 2000).

Table 1: Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents

Variables Label Frequency Per cent Mean
(n=95) (%=100)
Gender Female 45 47.37
Male 50 52.63

21-40 7 7.37
Age of household 41-60 53 55.79 54.4
head 61-80 33 34.74
Greater than 80 2 2.11

No Formal 13 13.68
Education of Primary 36 37.89
household head Secondary 43 45.26
Tertiary 3 3.16

Single 6 6.32
Married 68 71.58
Marital status
Divorced/Separated 4 4.21
Widowed 17 17.89

1-5 26 27.37
Household size 6-10 65 68.42 6.3
11-15 4 4.21

1-5 54 56.84
Farm size (Ha) 6-10 31 32.63 5.8
Greater than 10 10 10.53

Access to credit Did not receive 66 69.47

Received credit 29 30.53

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Farming 43 45.26
Primary
Trading 23 24.21
occupation of
Artisans 19 20.00
household head
Employed 10 10.53
Field survey, 2020

Distribution of respondents based on their choice of livelihood strategy

Table 2 presents the distribution of forest dwellers according to their preferred choice of
livelihood activities. The result revealed that the majority (54.74%) of the household engaged in
farm and non-farm activities, this implies that the majority of the respondents are relatively
diversified, 30.53% of them are engaged in only non-farm activities while the remaining 14.74%
of the dwellers engaged in toe farm only activities.

Table 2: Distribution of respondents based on their choice of livelihood strategy

Livelihood choices Frequency (n=95) Per cent (%=100)
Farm only 14 14.74
Non-farm only 29 30.53
Farm and Non-farm 52 54.74
Field survey, 2020
Factors influencing the choice of livelihood strategy
The result of the multinomial logistic regression analysis of the factors influencing the
choice of preferred livelihood diversification strategies among the forest dwellers in Onigambari
Forest Reserve, Oyo State is presented in Table 3. The chi-square value of 51.17 which was
significant at 1% level shows that the model has a good fit for the data. Each regression slope
here is interpreted as the predicted change in log odds of belonging to the comparison group
(relative to the baseline group) per unit increase on the predictor.
The coefficient of having at least secondary education of 3.629 was positive and significant at
1%, implying that having a higher level of education increased the likelihood of adopting the
non-farm strategy only by 3.629 relative to the adoption of the farm strategy only option. That is,
the higher the level of education, the higher the likelihood of opting for the non-farm strategy
only. On the other hand, the coefficient of the gender of household head (p<0.01) of -2.883 was
negative and significant, suggesting that having a male as household head reduces the probability
of choosing non-farm strategy only as a livelihood option than having a female as household
head.
Concerning the choice of the combination of farm and non-farm strategy as a livelihood
option, the coefficients of marital status (p<0.01) and having at least secondary education
(p<0.05) were positive and significant. The coefficient of marital status (1.635) was positive and
significant at 1% suggesting that having a household head that is married increases the
probability of adopting a combination of farm and non-farm strategy by 1.635 relative to the
non-married household head. Similarly, the coefficient of having at least secondary education
(p<0.05) of 2.823 was positive and significant, implying that having a higher level of education

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increased the likelihood of adopting the combination of farm and non-farm strategy by 2.823
relative to the adoption of the farm strategy only option. That is, the higher the level of
education, the higher the likelihood of opting for the combination of farm and non-farm strategy
as a livelihood choice. On the other hand, the coefficient of the age of household head of -0.106
was negative and significant at 1%, implying that for each one-unit increase in the age of
household head, the likelihood of adopting the combination of farm and non-farm strategy as a
livelihood choice reduces by -0.106 relative to the adoption of the farm strategy only option.
That is, the higher the age of the household head, the lower the likelihood of opting for the
combination of farm and non-farm strategy as a livelihood choice.
From these findings, it is evident that the major factors influencing the choice of the preferred
livelihood diversification strategies among the forest dwellers in Onigambari Forest Reserve,
Oyo State are gender, age of the household head, being married, and having at least a secondary
level of education.

Table 3: Multinomial logistic regression estimates of the factors influencing the choice of
the livelihood diversification strategy
Variables Nonfarm Farm and Nonfarm
Coef. Std. Err. Coef. Std. Err.
Gender -2.883*** 0.911 -0.855 0.825
Age of household head -0.0629 0.0461 -0.106*** 0.0411
Household size 0.0283 0.279 0.00520 0.245
Married 0.999 0.647 1.635*** 0.614
At least secondary education 3.629*** 1.240 2.823** 1.167
Constant 2.366 2.165 3.520* 1.863
LR chi2(10) 51.17
Prob > chi2 0.0000
Log-likelihood -71.87252
Pseudo R2 0.2625
Observations 95
Note: The base category for livelihood choices is farm only, at most primary for education,
female for gender, not married for marital status. *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The study focused on the factors influencing the choice of the preferred livelihood
diversification strategies among the forest dwellers in the Onigambari Forest Reserve of Oyo
State. The descriptive analysis revealed that a slight majority of the households were headed by
males and that the average age of the respondents stood at 54 years in the study area with the
majority of them having a formal education. Farming is the predominant occupation in the study
area with the majority of the household engaged in a combination of farm and non-farm
activities. From the findings, it is evident that the major factors influencing the choice of the
preferred livelihood diversification strategies among the forest dwellers in Onigambari Forest
Reserve, Oyo State are gender, age of the household head, being married, and having at least a

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 Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences (JOAFSS); Vol.18, No.2, 2020

secondary level of education. The study, therefore, recommended that quality credit accessibility
and participation in skills acquisition programmes through diversification should be encouraged
due to their capability of improving the household welfare.

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