Migration and nonfarm activities as income diversification strategies: the case of Northern Ghana

This article jointly analyses the determinants of participation in nonfarm activities and of migration in Northern Ghana, combining household data with community-level information and data on the evolution of the yields of cash and staple crops. Our results confirm the role of education as a key asset to pursue opportunities in the off-farm sector and the role of farm size in reducing the probability of participating in nonfarm activities. Poor households do not have enough resources to undertake nonfarm activities and they opt for migration as a diversification strategy. Community-level assets are found to play a crucial role for understanding off-farm diversification