Abstract
We model the determinants of rural poverty in Botswana by conducting an empirical analysis of household welfare using the 2009/10 Botswana Core Welfare Indicator survey (BCWIS) to identify such factors associated with rural poverty. The paper found that female headed households, especially those residing in rural areas have higher incidences of poverty than male headed households. The study also found male-headed households, education, employment, livestock ownership and access to amenities as factors that positively related with welfare for all rural households and the results were consistent across both FHHs and MHHs models, except for a few factors such as livestock ownership. Household size and dependency ratios negatively related with welfare. However, dependency ratio did not influence welfare amongst MHHs since such households are characterised by fewer dependents unlike the FHHs. characteristics variables and thus public policy should focus on such factors in addressing rural poverty, especially among FHHs. Creation of employment opportunities in rural areas is key in helping the government in its poverty eradication efforts in rural areas. The paper also concludes that FHHs in rural area must be made a special target of poverty eradication programmes, and a well focused gender specific intervention for poverty eradication initiatives is needed. Moreover, rural development strategies should emphasize the provision of agricultural infrastructure, promotion of agricultural productivity growth through improved technology adoption, as well as provision of basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity in rural areas.
Highlights
Poverty in Botswana is a rural phenomenon
MHHs attained welfare than FHHs, an indication that rural households headed by males are better-off in terms economic welfare than those headed by females
This may suggest that the empowerment of women, especially in rural areas will be fundamental in achieving improvements in rural household welfare and reduction in rural poverty
Summary
Poverty in Botswana is a rural phenomenon. The country has a total population of about 2 million people, with about 37% (748,762) residing in rural areas (Statistics Botswana, 2013a). Agriculture has declined in relative economic importance This sector is mainly based on smallholder farms and contributes about 2.3% of the country’s GDP and employs about 15.3% of the total labour force (Statistics Botswana, 2013b; Statistics Botswana, 2014). The declining in agricultural productivity is associated with among other things intermittent rainy seasons, persistent droughts, lack of draught power and lack of proper agricultural technology This has brought about serious economic and social challenges in rural areas; the biggest challenge being high poverty rates.
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