USING EVIDENCE OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME DIVERSIFICATION TO INFORM STUDY OFTHE RURAL NONFARM LABOR-MARKET IN AFRICA

The labor market literature in developing countries has seldom drawn o n the studies of rural household income diversification. This paper dr aws on such studies to inform future study of the rural nonfarm labor market in Africa. The review of evidence provides some surprising depa rtures from traditional images of nonfarm activities of rural househol ds. Among the most striking is the dominant importance in the majority of case study areas of nonfarm wage labor (as compared to self-employ ment). of nonfarm sector earnings (as compared to farm sector wage ear nings), and of local nonfarm earnings (as compared to migration earnin gs). The most worrying finding was the poor distribution of nonfarm ea rnings in rural areas, despite the importance of these earnings to foo d security and farm investments. This poor distribution implies signif icant entry barriers and market segmentation; it Is probable that this will lead over time to an increasingly skewed distribution of land an d other assets in rural Africa. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.