Diversification and poverty upward mobility in isolated areas of Zambia: An agricultural assets transfer perspective

Abstract

that should dramatically move their asset base towards the threshold necessary to take the first step out of poverty. Some beneficiaries of production assets have however, often remained the same or even relapsed into worse poverty. Understanding households’ diversification behavior according to stages in the domestic life cycle, and having a better insight into the structure of poverty dimensions that show a positive change when assets are availed is indispensable in deciding what type of interventions may be effective in reducing poverty. This study aimed at clarifying factors that influence household diversification within the domestic life cycle stages, and determine the structure of poverty dimensions involved in positive experiences following acquisition of agricultural production assets. Data for the analysis were collected from 150 randomly selected households using semi-structured interviews. Participatory profiling was used to identify poverty experiences. Logistic regression and factor analysis were used to respectively identify potential determinants of diversification and determine the structure of poverty dimensions which showed positive changes following assets transfer. Results indicate that ownership of animal draft power (ADP), fishing and brewing of local opaque beer were potential determinants of diversification within the domestic life cycle stages. There was a bifurcation into capital accumulation and domestic consumption smoothing within the structure of poverty dimensions that show positive experiences following assets acquisition. Key words: Diversification, domestic life cycle, participatory profiling, poverty upward mobility, Zambia