Impact of non-farm work on agricultural productivity: Empirical evidence from rural smallholder

The issue of this paper is to analyse the determinants of smallholder participation in non -farm work and the impact of participation on smallholder total productivity, using survey data from 4,542 rural households in Southern Togo. Based on an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model, the findings show that participation in non -farm work can be attributed to the head of household socio-demographic characteristics and their farm characteristics. The result also shows that participation in non -farm work improves total household productivity by an average of about 221,040 CFA francs. There is also an improvement in the productivity of male -headed households participating in non -farm activities, whereas that of women is declining. With regard to the type of non -farm activity, only those engaged in trade have increased productivity. Income diversification should be encouraged as a strategy among smallholders to improve their productivity.