Title:
LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION AND LABOUR INCOMES OF COMMERCIAL SMALL-SCALE FARMERS IN THE CENTRAL REGION OF KENYA

Authors:
Dr. Kate O. Litondo and Dr. Joseph F. Ntale

Abstract:
Livelihood diversification is a strategy that entrepreneurial small-scale farmers adopt to deal with environmental hardships. This paper, attempted to estimate the influence of livelihood diversification on labor incomes of commercial small scale farmers in central region of Kenya where livelihood diversification was classified as on-farm and off-farm. A survey was carried out on small-scale farmers and the respondents were identified by transect sampling method. Data was collected by self administered questionnaire. Correlation and regression analyses were used to estimate the results. The study revealed that owning a car and education level are highly associated with labour incomes of small-scale farmers. Results of regression analysis show that higher labour incomes were realized by livelihood diversification of commercial small-scale farmers. Further analysis shows that livelihood diversification accompanied with government regulations, education level, access to loan and desire for independence play a significant role in the increase of the labour incomes of small farmers. The study recommends that government should establish financial institutions to offer credit facilities to small-scale farmers. Small-scale farmers should be encouraged to diversify their livelihoods to increase labour incomes. The government should facilitated the increase of education level by building and equipping more schools in order to increase labour incomes small-scale farmer