Abstract
This study examined the existing livelihood strategies and its determinant in Kuarit District, West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The study used primary data collected from 144 sampled respondents using semi-structured household survey questionnaire, focus group discussion, key informant interview and personal observations. A Multistage sampling technique was used to select kuarit district, the study villages and sample respondents. Descriptive statistics results revealed that more than half of sampled respondents (57.6%) combine on-farm activity with other non-farm and off-farm activities. Inferential statistics results using ANOVA and Chi-square tests showed that there is significant mean difference between groups of livelihood strategies in terms of dependency ratio of the household, total annual income, distance from the nearest market, total livestock ownership of the household, access to credit service and educational statues of the household head. Multinomial logit model results showed that access to credit service, total annual income and total family size have positive effect on choices of livelihood diversification strategies; while market distance, age, total livestock holding and dependency ratio of the household head have negative effect on choices of livelihood diversification strategies. Thus, policymakers should give due attention and incorporate those negative and positive factors in planning rural development strategies and polices.
Highlights
Livelihood diversification is an active and changing phenomena taking place in rural areas
The model determining the choice of the probability that the household chooses alternative livelihood strategy set a, is the multinomial logit (MNL) if the sets are not ordered [16]
For one to use MNL the households have to be clustered into different categories and the basic assumption is that households in a given category participate in some given livelihood strategies, and cannot participate in strategies that are chosen by households in another category [19]
Summary
Livelihood diversification is an active and changing phenomena taking place in rural areas. It is “the process by which rural households construct an increasingly diverse portfolio of activities and assets in order to survive and improve their standard of living”. The sector contributes more than 42 % of the gross domestic product of the country (GDP) of the country, and provides livelihood to about 85 % of the population [3]. To this agriculture is a main source of raw materials for the manufacturing sector of the country.
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