Off-Farm Incomes Share and Farm Investment in North-Central, Nigeria: The Heckman Selection Model Approach
The study evaluated the probability of investing offfarm income’s share of household income in farming among small-scale farmers in North-Central Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 360 respondents. Primary data for the study were analysed using Heckman’s two-stage selection model. The lambda of the model was 1.38%, while the chi-square was significant. While education, household size and operating profit margin significantly (p < 0.05) increased the probability of off-farm work participation, education, total crop revenue, primary occupation, farm asset to household asset ratio, and asset turnover ratio significantly (p < 0.05) increased investible off-farm income’s share. Thus, factors in the business environment, other than government policies, shape off-farm work and farm investment decisions. Therefore, policy thrust should focus on interest and tax rates reduction and ease of farm asset acquisition for small-scale farmers.
