Analysis of Factors Influencing Smallholder Farmers’ Participation in Non-Farm Employment Activities and Their Impact on Households’ Food Security: The Case of Mbire District, Mashonaland Central Province of Zimbabwe

Misheck Tussle Mundowa ,Clever Mumbengegwi

doi:10.7176/jesd/11-22-06

Abstract

This study investigates the factors influencing smallholder farmer’s decision to participate in non-farm employment activities and its impact on rural households’ food security status in the Mbire District of Zimbabwe. The analysis uses a treatment evaluation model and the associated propensity score matching (PSM) technique, which permits the comparison between the food security status of smallholder farmers who participate in non-farm employment activities and those who do not. Estimation of propensity scores enable us to identify the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ decision to diversify into non-farm employment activities. The results indicate that a number of demographic (gender and education of household head), infrastructural (internet access and distance to the main road) and farm level characteristics (land size, livestock herd owned and productive assets) have qualitative and quantitatively different impacts on rural households’ participation in non-farm employment activities. Further, the empirical analysis conﬁrms that diversifying into non-farm employment activities improves rural households’ food security status. The results imply that non-farm employment activities can be a way out of food insecurity in Mbire district. The study therefore recommends the government and NGOs to induce the rural households to diversify into non-farm activities as they improve their food security status since the climatic conditions in the district are not well suitable for agricultural practices. Keywords: Non-farm employment; Propensity Score Matching (PSM); rural household food security; Mbire district of Zimbabwe DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-22-06 Publication date: November 30 th 2020

Highlights

One of the major public policy challenges facing Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) is feeding its growing population and alleviating food insecurity, especially among rural farm households (Owusu et al, 2011)
The study seeks to evaluate the impact of participation in non-farm employment activities on food security2
The way to interpret the results from the maximum likelihood estimations is to estimate the marginal effects, which gives both the impact and the direction

Summary

Introduction

One of the major public policy challenges facing Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) is feeding its growing population and alleviating food insecurity, especially among rural farm households (Owusu et al, 2011). Some strands of literature suggest that non-farm employment activities improve rural households’ incomes and food security (Mishra and Rahman, 2018; Seng, 2015; Shehu and Sidique, 2013), while others suggest that it has no or even negative effects (Pfeiffer et al, 2009; Kinuthia et al, 2018). Knowledge of these factors would help inform policy makers to identify those rural households most vulnerable to food insecurity and to design more accurately targeted policy interventions. The study seeks to evaluate the impact of participation in non-farm employment activities on food security

Methods

Results

Conclusion