How Does Multidimensional Rural Poverty Vary across Agro-ecologies in Rural Ethiopia? Evidence from the Three Districts

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the variation of multidimensional poverty in the agro-ecologies by using survey data collected from 450 households in three agro-ecologies of Ethiopia. To come up with the results, the study employed the methodology of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative approach. The study estimated the prevalence (H), average deprivation (A), and adjusted multidimensional rural poverty (Mo) to be 84.2%, 61%, and 51.3%, respectively, which indicates that it is severe in the study area. The result shows that these indicators are severe in Kolla and Dega agro-ecologies than Woyinadega agro-ecology. Moreover, the results of the logit model found that if the rural household lives in Kolla agro-ecologies, on average, the probability of being multidimensional poor increases by 3.6%.In contrast, in Woyinadega, it goes down by 11.3%, keeping all other factors constant. The study, therefore, suggests that the Ethiopian government and concerned bodies should intensively work to improve the standard of living in Kolla and Dega agro-ecologies. The focus of attention should be given for the Education dimension (adult education) in Dega and the Health dimension (nutrition) in Kolla agro-ecologies.