ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the nature of pressures or opportunities within agriculture, which may motivate a rise or a decline in non-farm participation. As the historical perspective on non-farm participation in the Nigerian savanna has shown, the central issue in analysing both the push and pull factors is that of rural inequality and its impact on livelihood options. The chapter deals with the characteristics or 'assets' of rural households that influence their ability to gain access to adequate non-farm incomes. Land rental is more affordable than purchase, and is widely practised, particularly among lower stratum households. Participation in agriculture was almost universal. All but one of the households engaged in wet season farming. The only non-farmer was a head whose land was frozen in a land dispute. In both the 1995 and the 1996 agricultural years, sample households marketed an average of only 50% of total crop production, in both upper and lower-stratum households.
