What is Livelihoods in Agriculture?
Agriculture remain one of the major source of food, employment, and shelter, for billions of people who depend on it as their major means of livelihood. From time immemorial, agriculture has not only been the main source of food and shelter, but also a significant source of foreign exchange and economic development.
Livelihood in Agriculture refers to the resources, activities, and means of sustenance that farmers engage in or use to generate income and live meaningful and economically stable lives. It also refers to the assets (such as natural asset, capital, or the combination of other assets) farmers use to create survival opportunities and improve their living condition.
Farmers engage in different agricultural activities such as arable crop farming, wage labor, small-scale agribusinesses, feed processing, agro-industry work, farmstead building technologist, pastoralism, fish farming, horticulture, forestry Services, transport, rent of farm tools/implements, or a combination of these activities and more to generate income for meaningful and economically stable lives.
Many Farmers also makes maximum uses of the large expanse of land available in rural areas for the cultivation of permanent crops such as rubber, mango, citrus, cocoa, oil palm, and more. These crops have a long life span, usually between 60 – 99 years. Providing a sustainable source of income or livelihood opportunities for farmers to profit is often reinvested in other areas of livelihood, such as portable water, electricity, good medical care, and seeking better education for farmers’ children.
Agriculture has significantly contributed to sustainable livelihood not only for the present farmers but also for the future ones while offering significant benefits for both local and global economic growth and sustainability in the short and long term.
Explanation of Basic Terms Used in the Above Definition
- Resources: these are natural or capital resources which farmers use to generate a mean of sustenabce. Land and water support activities such as crop farming, pastoralism, fish farming, and more. For example, those who engage in the cultivation of the land or rear animals, making use of the land to generate a means of survival, and those who engage in fishing using the river to generate a means of survival. Many people generate their means of livelihood from the cultivation and sales of crop such as cassava, yams, rice, cowpea, as well as harvesting and sale of aquatic animal such as fish, snail, periwinkles, crayfish, and more.
- Activities: these are occupation or job that farmers engage in, so as to generate income and improve well-being. Examples include wage labor, small scale agribusinesses, feed processing, agro-industry, pastoralism, fish farming, horticulturists, forestry, and more.
- Assess: these are resources, capital, or other wealth possessed by farmers and used in the creation of further income, such as farmland, farm machines, livestock, savings, and infrastructure.
Agriculture as a Source of Food and Income
Agriculture remains one of the major source of food and income for both small and large scale farmers in the agricultural sectors. For billions of individuals across the globe, access to crops and livestock determines food insecurity and income stability. Farmers engage in agricultural activities such as crop cultivation, livestock rearing, food processing, marketing, and wage labour to earn a living. These agricultural activities provide food for billions of the world’s population, and also serve as of income, as it is often said that a country that cannot fed itself will go bankrupt, so agriculture remains a source of food for the world’s population. Agriculture provides major source of mineral for the growth and development of man and animal. Mineral nutrients such as, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and more, are needed for the normal functioning of the body system. agricultural produce are also required in the agro-allied industries for the production and processing into finished and semi-finished product.
These products are either sold or exported to other countries, which serve as a source of income to both small, medium, and large scale farmers. Small-scale farmers often engaged in on-farm and off-farm activities, which serve as an additional source of wage or salaries along with their farm. In the developing countries, some of these farmers work in other commercial farm and the wages are reinvested into enlarging their own personal farm contribute almost similar proportion to farmer livelihoods. This increase access to food and income through farming which help to build internal resilience and thereby helping farmers to take up other opportunities.
Example of livelihood in Agriculture
The types of livelihood in agriculture, as submitted by the Food and Agriculture Organization, are: agricultural labour, non-agricultural labour, agri-business, service, transport, rent of implement/tool/warehouse, agro-processing industry, crafting, and feed processing
- Farming Activities: farmers engage in crop production, livestock rearing, forestry, horticulture, floriculture, and more to generate income to improve household well-being by providing security, resilience, capability, and equity for sustainability. Food products or profit obtained from the sales of these farming activities will enable farmers to meet their fundamental household needs, such as food, shelter, education, and healthcare, while simultaneously building resilience against financial and food insecurity.
- Agricultural Wage Labour: Agriculture is one of the economic sector that provide employment opportunities for semi skilled, skilled and unskilled labour through direct employment in maintenance and management of crop, livestock rearing, forestry, horticulture, floriculture, and more, to generate income to improve household. The income generated can be use for providing food or enable farmers to meet their fundamental household needs. Skilled workers are employed in the agricultural sector as agricultural teachers, extension workers, and other agro based industries, earning monthly salaries as a means of livelihood.
- Non-agricultural Labour: Beyond crop production, agribusiness, food processing, and related agro-allied trade activities. Individuals earn wages and salaries from the agro-allied industries trade, which serves as a sustainable means of livelihood to improve their well-being. Non -agriculture labourers, such as farmstead building technologies, electricians, plumbers and carpenters, and other workers on the farmstead earn wages which serve as food and economic stability.
- Agri-Business: Farmers are often involved in agribusiness, food processing, related agro-allied trade activities, and small-scale agro enterprises. Revenue generated from these trades are used for purchasing household items that will make life meaningful to them. The profit accrue from these businesses is something reinvested for the purchase of other commodities to enjoy economies of scale or to meet other essential needs, such as food, shelter, education, and healthcare.
- Service: Through various agriculture services such as repair and maintenance of farm machines, implement, veterinary services, and other related services provided by individual or farmers in the agricultural sector can empower them to break free from the cycle of poverty, and stimulate economic growth and stability.
- Transport: Individuals or farmers that involved in the movement of agricultural commodities from one place to another or from one countries to another drive suitable means of livelihood from such service, through creating change in their economic well-being and providing income opportunity and enabling them to become family breadwinner.
- Rent: Through the rent of farming tools such as spade or shovel, wheel barrow, knapsack sprayer, and other farm machine like tractors, and its implement, bulldozer, incubator, and more can serve as mean s of sustenance to individual farmers that involved in these types of services.
- Agro-allied Industry: Farmers who build agro processing industries that convert raw materials into finish or semi finish agricultural products derives means of sustenance from these industries. They also serve as a means of employment opportunities to other individuals who engages in activities or the other in the industries.
- Crafting: Certain skills are poses by farmers which are use in fabricating or manufacturing some simple tools and implements for performing one activities or the other in the farm. The sales of these locally fabricated tools and implements by farmers or their children can generate reasonable source of income for their sustenance
Components of Livelihood in Agriculture
There are many means of Livelihood in Agriculture, ranging from natural gifts, skills, and wealth used in the creation of further wealth. These means of livelihood are categorized into five components that can influence a person’s ability to generate livelihood opportunities in agriculture.
- Human Resource: these are resource or ability that exist within farmers or individuals which enable them to generate means of livelihood. Examples of these human resources are skills, knowledge, and health. These resources exist within human ability to create a sustainable source of income for meaningful living.
- Physical Resource: these are assets possess by the farmers which serve as a mean of livelihood. These assets includes tools and implements, such as spade, cutlass, and tractors and its implements, Basic infrastructure such as animal facilities and farm stead, and transport facilities and farm resource such as crops and animal at the farmers’ disposal.
- Natural Resources: these are God given gifts which the farmers uses to generate sustainable means of livelihood. These god given resources are Land, water, and resources that is located in them. For example, man cultivates crops and rear animals such as cowpea, cassava, yam, and animals such as goat, she, and cattle on the land which are harvest for food. Also, man also rear animals such as fish, crab, Cray fish, crocodile, where they generate a means of livelihood.
- Financial Capital: these are resources accrue from the sales of farm outputs, and services provide by the farmers. These resource can be the money at hand, money in the banks (savings), assets own (such as tractor, farm building, crops, and animals) other financial resources.
- Social Resources: nobody lives in isolation. Interpersonal relations exist between the farmers and the people around the farmers communities. These relationships between the farmers and the people within the community can create an enabling opportunities for a mean of livelihood. These social networks include relationships, and collaborating with the members of the communities.
Diversification of Agricultural Livelihoods
As the saying goes “No man should put all their eggs in one basket or bucket” Justify livelihood diversification. livelihood diversification therefore, is the process of considering or investing in more than one means of livelihood activities at a time to serve as insurance against unforeseen circumstances or decrease dependency over a single major livelihood activity or for a better source of livelihoods. Since human wants are usually unlimited and Farmers or individual have limited resource to satisfy these wants due to scares resources, humans often devise other source of income or means of sustenance because of uncertainty in life. Considering more than one means of livelihood activity at a time is not completely out of place. These can serve as insurance of uncertainty, reduce over dependency on a single major livelihood activity, and more income or financial largely.
Diversification of agricultural livelihoods can take any of these forms: a crop farmer involved in the rearing of intensive rearing of poultry birds for egg and meat source, or a farmer who is into large production of cattle invests in large-scale oil palm production, or a farmer into oil palm production later invests in processing palm oil or other oil palm processing industries.
Diversification of Agricultural Livelihoods can be horizontal diversification or vertical diversification. Vertical diversification; this is when a farmers or individual seek another means of livelihood related to farming or within a means of livelihood. For instance, a farmers who is into cassava production diversify into cassava flour processing industries, or from yam production into yam production industries.
Horizontal diversification: this is when a farmers or individual seek another means of livelihood different from the formers or different means of livelihood. For instance, a farmers who is into cassava production diversify into agro-business, or animal production.
Diversification can be done through mixing farming and mixed cropping. Mix farming is the process whereby a farmers cultivate crops and rear animals on the thee same pieces of land while mixed cropping Mix farming is the process whereby a farmers cultivate different types of crops on the same pieces of land. Both mixed cropping and mixed farming serve as a sustainable means of livelihood for the farmer.
Climate Change and Rural Livelihoods
Climatic variations index, such as temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, sunshine, wind, and more often lead to Low rainfall, High evaporation rate, High temperature, Crop and animal yield reduction due to climate change effect. These variation in climate couple with a lack of check on climatic factors for irrigation facilities in rural areas has put the small and medium scale have negatively affected small scale farmers. Climate change leads to flooding, drought, and wildfire outbreaks. Most times, these uncertainty do not have the requisite skills, knowledge, and competence to manage these uncertainty in the rural area, these have over overbearing effect on rural livelihood. Persistence of this uncertainty in the rural area without the requisite knowledge to manage this climate change will lead to two major effects on rural livelihood. Firstly, it will leads to insecurity of farmers income and financial assets, and secondly, farmers will not be able to change their household and livelihoods conditions towards a better situation.
As a result of these ugly trends, farmers ‘ and agri-business livelihood will remained largely affected and with the increasing vulnerabilities of farmers to food insecurity, financial insecurity, and damage to biodiversity. Climate variation is increasingly getting into a more adverse situation in a gradual manner. rural livelihood are gradually becoming more and more dependent over the limited cropping opportunity and leading to the erosion of different types of assets has become a trend. The erratic temperature, shortage of rainfall, high evaporation rate, and the overriding drought situation make the overall agriculture of the area of the rural dwellers, poor means livelihoods and reducing employment opportunity in the rural area.
The impact of climate change has led rural dwellers to consider activities outside farming, while agro business households and youths in rural areas that have limited access to the land are immigrating to urban area for sustainable means of livelihood, making the rural areas saturated with age people.
The vulnerable individuals that remain in the rural area have been found to acquire one trade or other such activities, such as tea stall operation, shop keeping, selling household essential goods, hawking activities, and weaving for sustenance.
Women and Youth in Agricultural Livelihoods
Women and youth are major drivers of agricultural activities. They are actively involve in all agricultural value chain, ranging from production, processing, and marketing. They are the brain behind the success of agricultures across the globe. They are involved in cropping cultivation, livestock rearing, agro-business activities, processing of crop and animals, and more; they involved in nearly all agricultural process to live a meaningful life.
Women and youths relatively of poorer households are involved in menial labour in field activities such as land preparation, weeding, fertilizer application, pests and disease control, and harvesting, etc. to maintain a livelihood opportunity. Women with relatively large hectares of farm land rely on agricultural and practices in large agriculture, which increase their socio-economic level, increase their livelihood activities, and adopts various strategies in managing their assets as well as adjusting with farm and household level better livelihood.
Women practice homestead gardens by cultivating various types of crops in a mixed form to ensure food security or available of food for the household, they acquire various agricultural skill to manage their farm effectively to boost food productivity.
Youth involves in various agricultural activities such as operating and servicing of farm machine, spraying of herbicides, and participating in related activities to generate income for a better livelihood. Both women and youths are involved in activities in agro-business or related trade such as such as vegetable selling, grocery shops, roadside business, tea stall, hawking, ferrying garments, and more both for a better livelihoold