Rural Livelihood Diversification Research Articles

The Impact of Rural Livelihood Diversification on Household Poverty: Evidence from Jimma Zone, Oromia National Regional State, Southwest Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia, agriculture is the principal source of food and livelihood for many rural households, making it a central component of programs that seek to reduce poverty and achieve food security. Since the sector is faced with many challenges, rural households are compelled to develop strategies through diversification to cope with the increasing vulnerability associated with agricultural production. As a result, the purpose of this research is to assess the impact of livelihood diversification on household poverty in the Jimma zone of Ethiopia's Oromia regional state. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 385 sample household heads. The study utilized data obtained from a cross-sectional survey using an interview schedule, focus group discussion, key informant interview, and personal observations. Both descriptive and econometric data analysis techniques were applied. The result of the FGT poverty measure revealed that the incidence of poverty among rural households was 37.14%, implying that 62.86% were non-poor. The descriptive statistics revealed that age of household, dependency ratio, year of schooling, sex of household, livestock ownership, landholding, non-farm income, market distance, and extension contact were found to have a significant influence on the poverty status of a household at different probability levels. Based on the cost of basic needs approach, it was applied to measure poverty status. The results of the logit model indicate that family size, landholding, livestock ownership, year of schooling, access to credit services, and off-farm income of the households were found to have significantly determined livelihood diversification. Moreover, the results of the propensity score matching indicate that household participation in livelihood diversification has a positive and significant impact on household poverty. Accordingly, households with diversified livelihoods were found to be 9% better off than those that were not diversified in terms of poverty. Policies aimed at increasing the income generation ability of the household should be strongly considered. Therefore, to ensure the capacity of rural households to practice farming along with a wide range of income-generating activities to improve the well-being of the rural poor and have a significant impact on poverty reduction, participating in livelihood diversification should be given emphasis in development planning.

Households’ Choices and Their Drivers to Rural Non-Farm Livelihood Diversification in West Bengal, India

There are inadequate empirical studies on non-farm livelihood choices of rural households in the state of West Bengal, India. This study aims to explore the determinants that effect the choice of households to engage in non-farm economic activities. The present study found that non-farm livelihood diversification factors are more heterogeneous and mainly depend on households’ strategic decisions. A household’s choice of non-farm livelihood activity is determined by binary aspects opportunity-driven versus distress-driven, but it is a complex transformation phenomenon. It has been noticed that within the non-farm livelihoods, share of wage labour (38.3%) is higher, followed by non-farm businesses (19.8%), service providers (18.0%), and salaried jobs (3.4%). The location and distance to the town from the households, food insecurity, and agricultural land size are more influential and statistically significant factors in choosing non-farm livelihood practices. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has negatively impacted rural non-farm livelihood activities. There is an 18% and 39% probability of reducing non-farm business and services compared to the increasing MGNREGA work opportunities. Moreover, the likelihood of non-farm business choices has increased by 56% due to rainfall and temperature-change-induced disasters.

Factors Affecting the Level of Rural Households Livelihood Diversification in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Livelihood diversification is enchanting a significant effect in generating household’s income. The livelihood diversification includes:on-farm, non-farm and off-farm strategies which are undertaken to get extra income and moderate hazard and insecurity. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting the level of rural household livelihood diversification in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia. The study was conducted by using a cross-sectional research design. It is a quantitative dominant concurrent mixed research methodology where the qualitative research is complemented with interpretations and triangulation. By applying multi-stage random sampling technique, a sample size of 400 household heads from 6 sample villages was selected and data were collected using interview schedule and via key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Descriptive statistics were analyzed and presented by using tables, graphs and figures while chi-square-test and F-test were employed to make statistical inferences. Tobit model was employed to identify the intensity of factors affecting of rural household’s livelihood diversification. Out of the 14 hypothesized explanatory variables, 6 variables namely age, education, access to extension, media access, distance to urban centers and training were found to have significant effect in rural household livelihood diversification decision. Therefore, the findings of this imply that rural households’ development policies should consider these factors in designing rural household livelihood diversification strategy.

MODELLING ON-FARM DIVERSIFICATION THROUGH PORTFOLIO OPTIMIZATION AND GOAL PROGRAMMING: A CASE STUDY FROM BOLIVIA

Modern Portfolio Theory provides a theoretical framework for agricultural risk reduction. Powerful yet accessible tools have been developed to optimize scarce capital/labor allocation to increase returns and reduce correlated risks via diversification. Such tools are used to assess rural livelihood diversification induced by an incentive-based program for watershed conservation piloted between 2003 and 2011 in a context of rural poverty in Bolivia. The tools assembled and tested in this study may provide low-cost diagnostics to improve implementers’ understanding of risks and returns in a specific rural context. Comparing alternative portfolio frontiers may represent a useful and transformative tool to understand socio-ecological systems such as watersheds, facilitating regime shifts that benefit ecosystem services and livelihoods.

Determinants of rural livelihood diversification strategies among Chewaka resettlers\u2019 communities of southwestern Ethiopia

BackgroundLivelihood diversification plays a decisive role for the reduction of poverty, food insecurity and to improve the welfare of rural communities. However, inadequate research attention has been given to explore the determinants of livelihood diversification strategies in resettlement areas of Ethiopia. This study attempts to investigate determinants of livelihood diversification strategies among the resettler households in Chewaka district of Ethiopia.MethodsThe study utilized both primary and secondary data which are qualitative and quantitative in their nature. Through multistage sampling procedure, a total of 384 households were selected from seven sample kebeles of Chewaka district. Data were collected using interview schedule, focus group discussions and field observations. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Descriptive and inferential statistics along with multinomial logit model have been employed to analyze the data.ResultsThe results showed that agriculture (43.2%), agriculture plus non-farm (25.5%), agriculture plus off-farm (19.3%) and a combination of agriculture plus non-farm plus off-farm (12%) activities are the most pertinent livelihood strategies in the study area. It was found that agriculture has a leading contribution to the total households’ income (72.5%) followed by non-farm (20%) and off-farm activities (7.5%). Multinomial logit model result revealed that land holding size, educational status, livestock holding, sex, age, market distance, credit access, annual income, access to training and household sizes were the major determinants of livelihood diversification strategies. Moreover, poor infrastructural development, lack of working capital, absence of technical support, inadequate skill training and lack of awareness are constraints to livelihood diversification in the area.ConclusionsThe study concludes that agricultural sector alone cannot be relied upon as the core activity for rural households and as a means of reducing poverty, achieving food security and improving livelihoods in the study area. Thus, a comprehensive development plan that enhances successful livelihood diversification is found to be imperative and most urgent. Policies and actions directed towards improving livelihood of the resettlers’ communities should focus on expanding rural infrastructures, enhancing awareness creation activities and cooperation of stakeholders to bring sustainable livelihood outcome in the area.

A Socio–Economic Analysis on Rural Livelihood Diversification Pattern in Pudukkottai District of Tamil Nadu

A Socio–Economic Analysis on Rural Livelihood Diversification Pattern in Pudukkottai District of Tamil Nadu

Tourism as a Pathway to Rural Livelihood Diversification: A Study of Mognori Ecovillage in the Savannah Region of Ghana

As a means of mitigating the effects of restrictions arising from the creation of the Mole National Park, a tourism intervention was introduced in Mognori, a village on one of the fringes of the famed park.This study assesses the Mognori Ecovillage Project especially in terms of its anticipated role in diversifying livelihoods. Qualitative research approaches were employed. Instruments such as In-depthInterview schedules were used to elicit information from household heads while focus group discussions (FGD) were used to elicit data from homestay operators and cultural dance troupes. Tourism was found to play an important diversification role in the sense that it provided both full-time and alternative means of income for some residents especially in the dry season. Tourism has become the “life wire” of some locales and the community needs to take steps to attract more tourists and provide a richer but engaging itinerary through improving cultural tourism resources such as the introduction of products like farm tourism and angling in the Mognori River. It is recommended that the homestay providers be trained in visitor reception skills including basic communication in Enghish language to enhance the experience of visitors.
 Keywords: Mognori Ecovillage, homestay, livelihood diversification, stipends, canoe safari

Does building the resilience of rural households reduce multidimensional poverty? Analysis of panel data in Ethiopia

Enhancing resilience capacity holds the key to welfare improvement. While there are assumptions that resilience has led to curbing poverty, in fact, the empirics are limited to ascertain the linkages between resilience and multidimensional poverty and find out implications for policy uptake in Ethiopia. This study addresses the role of household resilience capacity on multidimensional poverty reduction using the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey data collected by the Central Statistical Agency in collaboration with the World Bank Living Standard Measurement Study (2011/12 - 15/16). The study finds a steady decline in multidimensional poverty as a response to slight increases in resilience capacity. The reduction is emanated from a greater change in headcount than the intensity of deprivation. The fixed effect estimate indicated that enhancing resilience capacity is the most decisive factor responsible for multidimensional poverty reduction. Nevertheless, resilience is not the panacea. Therefore, the rural households curb multidimensional poverty by increasing crop income through commercialization and gradually diversifying non-farm income sources. Moreover, wage labor participation, literacy, saving, and having more economically active members are found to open up opportunities to sustained multidimensional poverty escapes. The dynamic random effect probit model also confirmed the existence of genuine state dependence of multidimensional poverty in rural Ethiopia. Findings suggested that the government policies aimed at enhancing resilience for multidimensional poverty should adopt productive inclusion and rural transformation. Promoting synergistic rural-urban linkages also ensures a balanced mix of infrastructure development that would improve market access and promote the rural non-farm sector, commercialization, and livelihood diversification. Support for migration, making urban development migrant-friendly, ensuring sustainable financial inclusion of the poor, and increasing access to basic services should also be part of the strategy. This implied that striving for sustainable multidimensional poverty reduction demands change in the patterns of labor mobility, livelihood transition, and urbanization.

Are land-poor youth accessing rented land? Evidence from northern Ethiopia

Continued population growth in densely populated parts of Sub-Saharan Africa makes it harder for youth to choose agriculture as main source of income. We investigate whether near landless youth can access rented land as a source of income. We used data collected in 2016 (from 1138 youths in 119 youth business groups) and 2019 (from 2427 youths in 246 business groups), in five districts of Tigray region of Ethiopia. We find that 42% of the youth had access to rented land in 2016 and 47% in 2019. The average area rented land was 0.66 ha in 2016 and 0.74 ha in 2019. Access to rented land, though constrained, accounted close to 70% in 2016 and 61% in 2019 of the average operated land by youth group members. Male youth who own oxen and ploughs are much more likely to rent land whereas female youth group members appeared generally disadvantaged in their access to rented land and other complementary sources of income. Sharecropping dominated as the main from of land rental contract covering 94% of the contracts in 2016 and 90% of the contracts in 2019. Utilizing a trust game to elicit trust and trustworthiness of the youth, we found a positive association between trustworthiness and particularly accessing land from non-relatives. The prohibition of land sales limits the potential of the “agricultural ladder” to facilitate youth climbing out of poverty through purchase of land. Overall, the land rental market has become more important for land access of land-poor youth and is likely to grow in importance to facilitate rural transformation and diversification of rural livelihoods as land scarcity grows and market access improves. Thus, it appears that the land rental market has helped many of these very land-poor youth to establish sustainable land-based livelihoods. While the land rental market does not function perfectly, we recommend not to intervene to change the fundamental characteristics or to impose area restrictions in the market as has been attempted recently in Ethiopia. Such restrictions can easily cause more harm than good.

Diversifying Factors of Income Inequality in the Rural Mekong Delta: Evidence of Commune‐Level Heterogeneity

This paper examines factors affecting income inequality in rural Vietnam with a special focus on the Mekong Delta. A case study reveals that there is heterogeneity in the factors of rural inequality at the commune level. While the inequality in one survey commune correlates with nonagricultural income rather than landholdings, the inequality in the other survey commune is determined by landholdings and characterized by a fixed structure. However, at the same time, the increasing importance of education in economic advancement is also observed in both communes under rural livelihood diversification conditions.

Maintaining Diversity of Integrated Rice and Fish Production Confers Adaptability of Food Systems to Global Change

Rice and fish are preferred foods, critical for healthy and nutritious diets, and provide the foundations of local and national economies across Asia. Although transformations, or “revolutions,” in agriculture and aquaculture over the past half-century have primarily relied upon intensified monoculture to increase rice and fish production, agroecological approaches that support biodiversity and utilize natural processes are particularly relevant for achieving a transformation toward food systems with more inclusive, nutrition-sensitive, and ecologically sound outcomes. Rice and fish production are frequently integrated within the same physical, temporal, and social spaces, with substantial variation amongst the types of production practice and their extent. In Cambodia, rice field fisheries that strongly rely upon natural processes persist in up to 80% of rice farmland, whereas more input and infrastructure dependent rice-shrimp culture is expanding within the rice farmland of Vietnam. We demonstrate how a diverse suite of integrated production practices contribute to sustainable and nutrition-sensitive food systems policy, research, and practice. We first develop a typology of integrated production practices illustrating the nature and degree of: (a) fish stocking, (b) water management, (c) use of synthetic inputs, and (d) institutions that control access to fish. Second, we summarize recent research and innovations that have improved the performance of each type of practice. Third, we synthesize data on the prevalence, outcomes, and trajectories of these practices in four South and Southeast Asian countries that rely heavily on fish and rice for food and nutrition security. Focusing on changes since the food systems transformation brought about by the Green Revolution, we illustrate how integrated production practices continue to serve a variety of objectives to varying degrees: food and nutrition security, rural livelihood diversification and income improvement, and biodiversity conservation. Five shifts to support contemporary food system transformations [i.e., disaggregating (1) production practices and (2) objectives, (3) utilizing diverse metrics, (4) valuing emergent, place-based innovation, (5) building adaptive capacity] would accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 2, specifically through ensuring ecosystem maintenance, sustainable food production, and resilient agricultural practices with the capacity to adapt to global change.

Concept for Ecotourism Industry: Over View from out to in (Ethiopia). A Review Articles

Ecotourism is an important and rapidly growing “niche market” within the global tourism industry, which can contribute to environmental conservation, socio-economic and gives value to the maintenance of local traditions and culture. The evolution of the concept of ecotourism could be traced from the 1980s, which coincides with the grounding of the concept of sustainable development. Although it has been difficult to calculate the size and growth rate of ecotourism, a range of estimates indicate that it has become the fastest growing sub-sector of the tourism industry. The contribution of ecotourism to rural livelihoods and livelihood diversification has received significant research attention and taken as determinants of livelihood outcomes. Ethiopia is a country of land of multiple tourist attractions and a visitor friendly people who are conscious of its historical, cultural and natural heritages in its regions. Even though it possesses a plethora of tourist attractions, yet tourism infrastructure, tourist products and marketing are at its infancy. The sector has direct, indirect and induced impact on the country’s economy, environment and cultural resources. To sustain sustainable development for the long run from the sector, balancing those impacts and giving attention towards peace and security as well as infrastructure development is crucial as the ecotourism industry mainly depend on them. Keywords: Ecotourism, Community, Tourism, Impact DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/51-02 Publication date: October 31 st 2020

Rural Livelihood Diversification in Nigeria: Implications for Labour Supply and Income Generation

Rural Livelihood Diversification in Nigeria: Implications for Labour Supply and Income Generation

Neither survival nor accumulation: Marketisation and rural livelihood diversification in northern Vietnam

Building on ethnographic fieldwork in a northern Vietnamese village, this article explores how rural households have negotiated the opportunities and uncertainties of marketisation (Đổi Mới). I focus on the surprising ways local households have handled the state's push to diversify livelihoods and adopt commercial home-based sidelines: by means of beingđa gi năng, a local term that means ‘keeping many livelihood options and never putting all eggs in one basket’. In pursuit ofđa gi năng, local households have actively adopted home-based production even when they were doing well with paddy farming and faced no subsistence crisis. However, they have evaded what state officials want most: specialising in a single home-production enterprise in rational maximising ways to accumulate transformational wealth. The idea ofđa gi năngcalls into question two contrasting universal approaches to rural households’ motivations for livelihood diversification: either a desperate search for survival by passive victims of market forces, or a quest for wealth accumulation by rational maximisers without careful judgement of potential risks to one's family.

Rural non-farm economy and livelihood diversification strategies: evidence from Bangladesh

Rural households in Bangladesh are now diversifying from full-time agriculture to part-time agriculture where they are engaging in different non-farm activities along with farming. This study intends to identify the determinants to diversify in each livelihood strategy individually and their effects on poverty. A total sample of 153 households from three districts of Bangladesh was selected through purposive sampling technique. Multinomial logistic regression and multidimensional poverty index were used for the likelihood of adopting one of the five probable activity portfolios and their poverty measurement, respectively. The results reveal that age and farming experience of the household head, and total land cultivated by a household play a significant negative role in diversifying into any activities in non-farm sector. Higher education boosts the possibility to participate in wage-employment based strategy. In addition to active male labor, better infrastructural facilities enhance the probability of engaging in wage and self-employment based non-farm activities. Moreover, access to non-farm activities especially self-employment and international migration are determined by credit receptiveness. Generally, shifting from full-time agriculture to partly non-farm sector is more welfare generating strategies (by reducing poverty) for rural households in Bangladesh. Therefore, policy should be directed to facilitate strategy-based rural non-farm activities and enhance balanced economic growth of the country.

The Role of Rural Livelihood Diversification Strategies for Household Food Security in Southern Ethiopia: Empirical Evidence from Kecha Bira District of Kembata Tembaro Zone

Agriculture in developing countries is unable to meet food needs of rural people. Thus, rural households engage in to different livelihood diversification activities to ensure their food needs and secure their future livelihoods. The study investigated the role of livelihood diversification strategies for rural household food security in Kembata Tembaro Zone, Southern Ethiopia with empirical evidence from Kecha Birra district with data collected from a sample of 355 households selected by multistage sampling technique. The descriptive statistics were used to identify the livelihood strategies in the study area. The finding of the study indicated that majority of the rural households (41.6%) engaged into on-farm activity. However, 22.54%, 21.41% and 14.37% practice on-farm plus off- farm; on-farm plus non-farm; and on-farm plus off-farm plus non-farm livelihood diversification activities respectively. Household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS) was used to measure food security status of households. The study result showed that 51.27% households were food insecure and the rest 48.73% were food secured. Logistic regression model was used to assess the role of livelihood diversification strategies to rural household food security. The results of the model indicated livelihood diversification strategies, Income obtained from diversification activities, Education status of the households, Total farm land size of households, Total livestock unit owned and Training and extension service are positively and significantly related to rural household food security status and improves food security status of rural households. It confirmed that livelihood diversification strategies have a positive effect and would be the best solution to reduce poverty and improve food security at household level in rural areas. Therefore, due attention should be given to strengthen livelihood diversification strategies so as to improve rural household food security.

Rural Livelihood Diversification in Bangladesh: Effect on Household Poverty and Inequality

The pervasiveness of poverty continues to be a daunting challenge for Bangladesh. This study attempts to examine the effect of different livelihood diversification on rural household poverty and income inequality. A panel dataset, which is used in this study, was collected in the three different years (1988, 2000 and 2008) from 62 villages across 57 districts of Bangladesh. Besides, 153 households from three districts of Bangladesh were also randomly selected as primary data. Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) was used to measure poverty whereas Gini coefficients and decomposition of Gini coefficients were used to measure inequality and to identify marginal effects of certain livelihood income source on total inequality. The results reveal that diversifying livelihood through income source changes has an impact on the poverty level and inequality among rural households. Following these changes, the overall poverty situation has been improving and income distribution has been worsening over the years. Households drastically reduce their poverty by diversifying their livelihood from only agriculture to part-time farming. Among different non-farm income sources, only self-employment has a positive contribution in decreasing income inequality since 2000. Incomes from migration and wage-employment widen income inequality in rural Bangladesh. Therefore, policy options should strive to expand rural industry and scope of self-employment in the rural areas along with agricultural sector development.

Extent of Rural Livelihood Diversification: The Case of the Bodos of Assam, India

Extent of Rural Livelihood Diversification: The Case of the Bodos of Assam, India

Factors Affecting Livelihood Diversification Decision: The Case of Kuormuk and Homosha Districts of Assosa Zone, Beneshangul Gumuz Regional State, Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s agricultural productivity is considered low despite the presence of various agricultural policies. These policies focus mainly on on-farm agricultural development to the neglect of rich opportunities for non-agricultural livelihood diversification activities. Livelihood diversification is a strategy that can boost farmers’ income and promote sustainable land management practices. This study was conducted to assess the various factors that affect households’ decisions on livelihood diversifications the case of Kuormuk and Homosha districts of Assosa zone, Beneshangul Gumuz regional state, western Ethiopia. Data was gathered by household survey from 376 sample households of 13 randomly selected rural kebeles of the Homosha and Kuormuk Districts through structural questionnaires. The alternative livelihood strategies that were used by the study households were agriculture only, and agriculture plus other activities (off-farm and non-farm activities). Binary Logit model was employed in identifying the determinants of rural livelihood diversification decision. From 13 hypothesized explanatory variables, 5 variables were found to have significant effect in determining diversification of household livelihood decisions. Accordingly, age of the household head, access to credit, receiving remittance and land size have negative association with livelihood diversification strategy. Whereas, getting training has a positively influence on households choice of livelihood diversification. Therefore, the findings of this imply that rural households’ development policies should consider off-farm and non-farm livelihood activities in addition to agriculture.

The Situation of Rural Youth Livelihood Diversification and Its Determinants in North Western Ethiopia

It has been repeatedly reported that Ethiopia has achieved a ‘remarkable economic growth’ that appears to have put the country on sustained and high growth trajectory since 2003/04. However, improvements in labor market opportunities for youth; most importantly for rural youth lag behind the presumed economic growth. Such kind of paradox between high economic growth and high youth unemployment and underemployment is the combined result of various factors that impede youth livelihood developments. Despite these facts, the issue is usually considered as the only problem of university and college graduates and urban youths. Due to this, most previous studies on livelihood mainly focused on urban youth livelihoods opportunities and related issues and failed to see the issues from school dropout and uneducated rural youth contexts. Hence this study is meant to focus rural youth livelihood impediments in four selected districts of East Gojjam zone, Amhara regional state. Employing cross sectional mixed research approaches, data were gathered through survey and Key informant interview from a total of 388 sample and 6 key informant interviewees recruited from eleven Kebeles of the four districts. Data were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression, Simpson Diversification Index, mean, maximum, minimum standard deviation and other descriptive statics. The finding revealed that youths are engaged in one to three income generating activities and as indicated in the descriptive analysis 75.5 % youths were less diversified, 16 % were moderately diversified and the remaining 8.5 % were found highly diversified. The multinomial logistic regression result found out that the principal determinant factors behind the very limited youth livelihood diversification status include, low educational access and quality, sex based stereotyping culture in the community, age based restriction of information access, market inaccessibility nearby their village, high dependency ratio, lack of road and transport access and shortage of credit access. Keywords: Rural youth, livelihood diversification, livelihood strategy, impediments DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-23-02 Publication date: December 31 st 2019