| Summary: | The study analyzed livelihood diversification among rural farming households in Vandeikya local government area of Benue State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to; describe the socio-economic characteristics of farming household in the study area; describe the non-farm livelihoods activities engaged by the farming households in the study area, determine the extent of diversification of farming households, determine the factors influencing livelihood diversification by farming households and identify the constraints to livelihood diversification amongst farming household in the study area. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a total number of 192 respondents for the study. Data for the study was garnered using a structured questionnaire designed in line with the objectives of the study. Analysis of the data was done using descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions, percentages and mean as well as Logit regression. Findings revealed the mean age of the farmers to be 40 years with the males constituting the greater percentage (84%) of the respondents. The result also revealed that 76% of the respondents were married with an average household size of 8 persons and an average farm size of 2.5 hectares. The result further shows that the majority (62%) of the respondents had only primary education with an average farming experience of 9 years. The majority (93%) of farmers affirmed that they had no access to credit to finance their production activities. The farmers earned a mean annual farm income of N33518 in the study area. Greater percentage (68%) of the respondents acquired their farmlands through inheritance. Results also showed that trading, sales of cooked food and local drinks, Casual labour supply and civil service/ private salary jobs were identified as the non-farm livelihood strategies mostly adopted by the households and accounted for 62%, 33%, 30% and 28% respectively. The level of livelihood diversification in the study area was moderate as the majority of the respondents (74%) diversified into only two income sources. The result of logit regression shows that the decision to diversify from agriculture to other livelihood means was influenced by age, educational status, membership of cooperatives, access to credit and annual farm income. The leading constraints to livelihood diversification were lack of capital (31%), lack of non-farm livelihood enterprises (20.3%), infrastructural problem (17%), government policies on use of some natural resources (14.5%) and gender issues (11%). The study recommends the extension of financial institutions to the rural people to enable them have access to credit for agriculture and other income generating enterprises. Appropriate policies and strategies for the development of rural infrastructure based on the current rural livelihood situation should be formed and implemented.
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