Livelihood Diversification and Settlement Patterns among Agro-Pastoralists in Ibadan/Ibarapa Agricultural Zone, Oyo State, Nigeria
Abstract
This study assessed livelihood diversification and settlement patterns among agro-pastoralists in Ibadan/Ibarapa Agricultural Zone, Oyo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 106 agro-pastoralists, while data were collected with the aid of pre-tested and validated interview guide. Data were subjected to descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential (chi-square) statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Results revealed that the mean age of respondent was 43 years, and that 60.4% of the respondents were sole owner of their cattle. The major livelihood activities were sale of cattle, crop farming and sale of milk/milk products. Findings also showed that many of the agro-pastoralists practiced either the transhumance (25.5%) or semi-transhumance (55.7%) settlement patterns. It was further revealed that the respondents benefited from equitable access to land, expansion of business trade and market integration. Some of the challenges faced by the agro-pastoralists include; cattle defecating on streams and roads (78.3%), extensive sedentarization (80.2%), farmland invasion by cattle (85.8%), and overgrazing on fallow lands (80.2%). Chi-square analysis revealed that there were significant associations between settlement patterns and livelihood diversification; selling of milk and milk product (χ2 = 12.248, p≤0.01), cultivation of crops (χ2 = 15.362, p≤0.01), petty trading (χ2 = 7.957, p≤0.05) and commercial selling of livestock (χ2 = 9.456, p≤0.05). It was concluded that the transhumance or semi-transhumance settlement patterns adopted by the agro-pastoralists had positive influence on their livelihood diversification into different activities. It is therefore recommended that agro-pastoralists should diversify into more income generating livelihood activities.
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