Off-farm Labour Drift in Sub-Saharan Africa

Against a background of mass movements of the youths and educated members of the labour force away from the rural farm sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, with far reaching implications on both the rural and the urban sectors, the study being reported was conducted to examine the patterns, determinants and production efficiency outcomes of rural out-migration and off- farm labour supply by members of rural farm households in southwest Nigeria. The study found that 38.7 percent of the economically active individuals born into the sampled rural farm families have migrated to urban centres, while 47.3 percent of those left in the rural sector participate in off- farm activities. Off-farm employment accounted for 34.3 percent of the typical rural farm household members' work efforts, 21.7 percent of the household income, while remittances from the out-migrants accounted for 9.9 percent the household income. However, while income from off-farm activities significantly enhanced production efficiency of the farm households, remittances received from rural out- migrants did not.