Cocoa farming and income diversification in south-western Nigeria

This working paper provides research findings emanating from the De-Agrarianisation and Rural Employment (DARE) Research Programme, coordinated by the African Studies Centre, Leiden. The aim of the Programme was to examine, from a multidisciplinary perspective, the changes in size and significance of the peasant population in sub-Saharan African countries and to draw attention to the new labour patterns and unfolding rural-urban relations now taking place. This paper focuses on Nigeria and chronicles the patterns of long-term diversification that are observable in the cocoa farming community of Alade in Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo State. After some historical background information on cocoa cultivation and government policies up to 1970, when Nigeria began to experience its oil boom, it looks at the impact of the oil boom of the 1970s and the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), introduced in 1986, on cocoa farming before turning to the situation of household production and reproduction in the aftermath of SAP, and the internal dynamics of Alade households. Finally, it looks at the extent and trends of diversification of livelihood strategies within the farming community. The conclusion is that SAP has led to a revival of cocoa farming in Nigeria and that farming households have responded to new opportunities opened up to them by adjusting their use of household resources. However, the benefits of this revival have not been evenly spread

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