Abstract
The paper examines the status and determinants of poverty and inequality among rural households in Girar Jarso district of Central Ethiopia. To measure the status of poverty and inequality, the study made use of cost of basic need approach, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke indices and Gini coefficient. Based on the survey of 120 households, the logistic model was estimated. A three-stage sampling procedure was applied for selection of respondents. The poverty line is found to be 4315.7 Ethiopian Birr. The incidence of poverty was computed to be 45% with an average poverty gap and squared poverty gap of 18.6 and 9.99%, respectively. The Gini coefficient was calculated to be 0.33. The logit model shed light on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of households behind the persistence of poverty. The result revealed that poverty is strongly linked to family size, remittance, farm and non-farm income and receiving food aid. The findings suggest also that livelihood diversification, encouraging flow of remittances, promotion of non-farm activities, besides agricultural intensification, and appropriate target to avoid distortionary effects of food aid will constitute an important strategy to accelerate poverty reduction. Key words: Poverty, income inequality, determinants, household, Ethiopia.
Highlights
Achieving sustainable economic growth with a particular focus on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger has become the key development goal for governments around the world, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (World Bank, 2017)
The pace of poverty reduction over the past decade has been slow. This phenomenon calls for assessment of poverty and as such, the objective of this study is to assess the status of poverty, measure income inequality and identify the major determinants of poverty
Compared to other studies at disaggregated level, the poverty line in terms of Ethiopian Birr/adult equivalent/annum of Girar Jarso was found to exceed what Bogale et al (2005) ranging from 460 to 715 computed for districts of Alemaya, Hitosa and Merhabete in 2005, Babu and Afera (2094) for Gulomekeda, Abebe (2976) for Chencha and Abaya in 2017, Shete (758.27) in 2010, Bogale (1468) for Hararghe highlands in 2011 and still greater than the national average set at 3781 Ethiopian Birr/adult equivalent/annum in 2011 prices (MoFED, 2012)
Summary
Achieving sustainable economic growth with a particular focus on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger has become the key development goal for governments around the world, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (World Bank, 2017). The World Bank (2014) set an ambitious goal of reducing, to no more than 3%, the fraction of the world's population under the canopy of poverty by 2030. There are around 1.2 billion people in extreme poverty in the world Ethiopia has long been known as the cradle of humanity, poverty remains dauntingly widespread and pervasive.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
