Determinants of off farm participation of rural farm households in shebedino district of sidama zone, Southern Ethiopia

During the past two decades, the food security debate has come to consider the contribution of off farm sector to rural livelihood as supplementary to income obtained from agriculture. Income generated from farming has failed to support livelihood need of the rural farm households in developing countries, and agricultural development policies have largely produced little improvement, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, farm households in rural areas participate in multiple economic activities and thus diversify income sources to minimize agriculture related problem. Therefore this study has been conducted in Shebedino Woreda of Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia with the main objective of analyzing the determinants of off farm participation of rural farm households. Both primary and secondary of data were used in the study and analyzed though qualitative and quantitative methods. Inferential statistics such as chi-square and binary logistic regression were implemented to investigate the most important factors determining off farm participation. To determine the sample size for the study, multi stage sampling techniques were employed by first selecting Shebedino Woreda purposely; the whole Woreda was divided in to two groups by stratifying based on the agro ecological zone of the area. Accordingly, one kebele from each stratum was selected by using simple random sampling. Furthermore 186 households were selected through systematic sampling method. The finding of the study shows that among the sample of factors, off farm training, credit service, household saving, education status, presence of draft animals, size of farm land were most important determinants to influence off farm participation of the households. The result also shows that the role of off farm activities to fulfill the livelihood needs of the farm households; food security, better health, educating children, better housing and relaxation of financial constraint are main benefits households have got from off farm income. Distance of market, shortage or lack of input and low price of the products are among main challenges that farm households face while practicing off farm activities. Overall results of this study shows that insuring the quality and distribution of off farm training to all farm households, providing credit service through easily accessible way, creating awareness and mobilizing saving, ensuring the sustainability of adult education, exhausting the benefit of draft animals and enhancing the productivity of farm land are most important tools to attract more farm households to off farm participation.