Livelihood Decisions Research Articles

Community living standards and rural household decision making

Abstract Reducing deforestation and environmental degradation in the tropics while alleviating rural poverty requires effectively engaging with small-scale fishing, farming and forest-dependent households. The changing aspirations of rural households, however, have increasingly been attributed as the cause of rural households changing from ecologically sustainable to intensive and destructive livelihoods and natural resource uses. Theories of rural household decision-making, however, have historically used normative assumptions about rural households that have not addressed the interconnections between culturally and locally specific community living standards and livelihood decisions. In this article, a novel framework for assessing household goals and community living standards is presented, along with how these differentiated goals are tied to household livelihood strategies. Through case studies of fishing, farming and forest-dependent communities in a coastal landscape in Indonesia, the orientation of household livelihood strategies towards the achievement of household goals are demonstrated. The consistency and differentiation of household goals within and between communities is also discussed, demonstrating that smaller, insular communities are more likely to have homogeneous living standards than larger, more integrated communities. In addition, the mechanisms that facilitate changes in community living standards and household goals change are also discussed, which include access to consumer markets, social integration and the provision of government infrastructure and services. The results demonstrate that a comprehensive understanding of rural household goals and community living standards is a critical first step for understanding and influencing rural household livelihood strategies. Through addressing the motivations of rural households more systematically in association with their livelihood strategies, more effective, equitable and acceptable interventions for addressing environmental degradation caused by small-scale producers are possible.

Capital, rules or conflict? Factors affecting livelihood-strategies, infrastructure-resilience, and livelihood-vulnerability in the polders of Bangladesh

Coastal regions are most susceptible to the effects of climate change. To increase infrastructure-resilience of such regions, reduce livelihood-vulnerability of people living in such regions and equip them with appropriate livelihood strategies, governments have invested heavily in coastal infrastructure such as polders. This research is focused on the polders of Bangladesh. The effectiveness of Bangladesh’s polders is disputed. No large-scale, evaluative, quantitative analysis of polders has yet been conducted. There is also only a limited number of evaluative studies on the factors which affect livelihood strategies, livelihood-vulnerability or infrastructure-resilience in polders. Therefore, the research question guiding this research is: What factors affect livelihood strategies, infrastructure-resilience, and livelihood-vulnerability in the polders of Bangladesh? These questions are answered by drawing on propositions from the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) using statistical analysis of a dataset of 137 polders. This dataset has been created from 76 survey-based interviews, secondary research and geo-spatial analysis. It is hypothesized that under different contextual settings, different combinations of livelihood resource endowments, lead to different combinations of livelihood strategies. These combinations of livelihood strategies lead to different outcomes after being moderated by different institutional, and political settings, under different contextual settings. This research demonstrates that various kinds of conflict-related and rule-making variables affect sustainability outcomes. Relationships proposed by the SLA are statistically significant and are generalizable across a large number of heterogeneous sites. Geological, geomorphological, climatic and hydrological conditions also affect livelihood decisions of polder-residents and also affect the condition of polder-infrastructure.

Emergent conservation outcomes of shared risk perception in human-wildlife systems.

Human perception of risks related to economic damages caused by nearby wildlife can be transmitted through social networks. Understanding how sharing risk information within a human community alters the spatial dynamics of human-wildlife interactions has important implications for the design and implementation of effective conservation actions. We developed an agent-based model that simulates farmer livelihood decisions and activities in an agricultural landscape shared with a population of a generic wildlife species (wildlife-human interactions in shared landscapes [WHISL]). In the model, based on risk perception and economic information, farmers decide how much labor to allocate to farming and whether and where to exclude wildlife from their farms (e.g., through fencing, trenches, or vegetation thinning). In scenarios where the risk perception of farmers was strongly influenced by other farmers, exclusion of wildlife was widespread, resulting in decreased quality of wildlife habitat and frequency of wildlife damages across the landscape. When economic losses from encounters with wildlife were high, perception of risk increased and led to highly synchronous behaviors by farmers in space and time. Interactions between wildlife and farmers sometimes led to a spillover effect of wildlife damage displaced from socially and spatially connected communities to less connected neighboring farms. The WHISL model is a useful conservation-planning tool because it provides a test bed for theories and predictions about human-wildlife dynamics across a range of different agricultural landscapes.

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.

Exploring methodological approaches to assess climate change vulnerability and adaptation: reflections from using life history approaches

People in developing countries face multiple risks, and their response decisions sit at the complex and often opaque interface of climatic stressors, constrained resource access, and changing livelihoods, social structures, and personal aspirations. Many risk management studies use a well-established toolkit of methodologies—household surveys, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews. We argue that such methodological conservatism tends to neglect the dynamic and differentiated nature of livelihood decisions. Since different methodologies privilege different portrayals of risk and response, we highlight how plural methodological approaches can capture a broader range of perspectives and problematisations. In this paper, we draw on life history (LH) interviews across four countries (Kenya, Namibia, Ghana, and India) to offer one way of expanding current methodological approaches on vulnerability and adaptation. We argue that LHs offer four key ‘value additions’. First, LHs give insights into the multiple and interacting nature of drivers of response behaviour. Second, they highlight intra-household dynamics to demonstrate how people with differential power shape risk management decisions. Third, LHs support explorations of past decisions, present situations, and future aspirations, thus producing temporally nuanced enquiries. Fourth, they provide a powerful analytical lens to capture the interplay of motivations, aspirations, and values on livelihood choices and adaptation outcomes. By adding value in these four ways, LHs challenge assumptions about how and why people respond to multiple risks and offer a nuanced understanding of adaptation processes.

Indigenous weather and climate forecasting knowledge among Afar pastoralists of north eastern Ethiopia: Role in adaptation to weather and climate variability

Traditional weather and climate forecasting is used by many indigenous communities worldwide as a guide in making important decisions that enable them cope and adapt to climate change-induced extreme weather variation. In many pastoral communities in Africa, traditional weather and climate forecasting remains the most accessible and affordable source of weather and climate information. In this study, we used individual interviews and focused group discussions to systematically document indigenous weather and climate forecasting knowledge among Afar pastoralists, with the aim of making such information available, and enhance use of this knowledge in climate change adaptation and explore synergies with modern weather forecasting system. The Afar pastoralists traditionally predict weather and climate variation through the observation of diverse bio-physical entities including livestock, insects, birds, trees and wildlife. No single indicator is taken at face value; weather forecasting is undertaken in a dynamic process where information collected from different sources, including weather information from the modern weather forecasting system, is triangulated to make the safest livelihood decisions. Before any forecasting information is used, it is evaluated through three traditional institutions that collect, share and analyse the information. These institutions include (1) the Edo or range scouting where traditional rangeland scouts are sent on a mission to assess weather and other spatially and temporally variable attributes on rangelands; (2) the Dagu, a traditional secured and reputable network, where weather information is shared among users; and (3) the Adda or the traditional Afar governance system, which analyses traditional weather information before community decisions are made. This first-time systematic documentation of indigenous weather and climate forecasting knowledge among the Afar communities demonstrated the dynamic process of indigenous weather and climate knowledge production, analysis and communication. This shows the value of indigenous knowledge in contemporary pastoral communities, while highlighting synergies with the modern weather and climate knowledge system for co-production of knowledge that serves the objectives of local people.

The Economic Geography of Kenyan Tobacco Farmers' Livelihood Decisions.

The narrative of prosperous economic livelihood of tobacco farmers in Kenya as alleged by the tobacco industry deserves challenge as evidence increasingly suggests that smallholder tobacco farmers are making little or no profits. Article 17 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control encourages viable alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers. There is little evidence, however, on how tobacco farmers make livelihood choice decisions. A total of 527 purposefully selected smallholder tobacco farmers in Kenya from three main tobacco-growing regions participated in a 2017 economic livelihood survey. Geo-economic data were matched to surveyed farmers' Global Positioning System coordinates to estimate each farmer's access to nearby economic centers. Ownership of cell phones or radios was also used to estimate farmers' virtual access to nearby economic activities to understand better the role of information. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to control socioeconomic status and self-reported activity in nearby economic centers. Tobacco farmers rarely live within 10 km of an economic center. Results suggest that the further away farmers live from economic centers, the less likely they are to grow tobacco, but more likely to grow tobacco under contract. Also, farmers owning a cell phone or radio are not only less likely to grow tobacco, but also to not engage in farming under contract if they do grow tobacco. Physical and virtual access to nearby economic activities is significantly associated with tobacco farmers' livelihood choice decision and should be taken into consideration by decision makers while developing interventions for FCTC Article 17. Smallholder tobacco farmers in lower-income countries are making little or no profits, but few studies have been conducted to illuminate what perpetuates tobacco production, with such studies urgently needed to support governments to develop viable alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers. This study suggests that geographic and technological factors that shape farmers' economic decisions can help policy makers tailor alternative livelihood policies to different regional contexts and should be a focus of future research in this area.

The Coproduction of Peri‐Urban Space

Expanding beyond narrow approaches of understanding postapartheid space, this research analyzes the social relations contributing to land use patterns and livelihood decisions as manifestations of the coproduction of space. Drawing on a detailed livelihood and land‐change analysis case study of Polokwane, South Africa, it is argued that combinations of social processes across scales contribute to the production of peri‐urban South Africa and offer an uncommon mixed‐methods approach by combining qualitative ethnographic interviews, quantitative survey data, and land‐cover change detection. The peri‐urban interface is coproduced as individuals participate in multiple livelihood activities (wage labor, businesses, social programs) and changing land use patterns (residential, urban, mixed use) through negotiations at multiple scales—from macrolevel economic policy to local labor regimes.

Coastal livelihood transitions under globalization with implications for trans-ecosystem interactions.

Anthropogenic threats to natural systems can be exacerbated due to connectivity between marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, complicating the already daunting task of governance across the land-sea interface. Globalization, including new access to markets, can change social-ecological, land-sea linkages via livelihood responses and adaptations by local people. As a first step in understanding these trans-ecosystem effects, we examined exit and entry decisions of artisanal fishers and smallholder farmers on the rapidly globalizing Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. We found that exit and entry decisions demonstrated clear temporal and spatial patterns and that these decisions differed by livelihood. In addition to household characteristics, livelihood exit and entry decisions were strongly affected by new access to regional and global markets. The natural resource implications of these livelihood decisions are potentially profound as they provide novel linkages and spatially-explicit feedbacks between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Our findings support the need for more scientific inquiry in understanding trans-ecosystem tradeoffs due to linked-livelihood transitions as well as the need for a trans-ecosystem approach to natural resource management and development policy in rapidly changing coastal regions.

Is contract farming an inclusive alternative to land grabbing? The case of potato contract farming in Maharashtra, India

In the recent explosion of attention given to the land grabbing phenomenon, contract farming has been identified as a potentially inclusive alternative for smallholders to outright acquisition of farm land by agri-business capital. This paper responds to these claims by resituating contract farming as an equally important form of land control. The focus of the paper is a case study of potato contract farming in Maharashtra, India. While there is ‘nothing new’ about contract farming as a mode of agriculture production in India, its influence on patterns of agrarian change is poorly understood. Adopting an agrarian political economy-informed livelihoods approach, the paper argues that rather than an inclusive alternative to land grabbing, contract farming in the study site represents another way that capital is coming to control land in rural India, with just as important implications for agrarian livelihoods. While some individual households have improved their livelihoods through participation, the contract scheme acts to reinforce already existing patterns of inequality. In particular, the unequal power relations between firm and farmer skew the capture of benefits towards the firm, and render participating households vulnerable to indebtedness and loss of autonomy over land and livelihood decisions.

Short-term needs trump conservation in household livelihood decision-making around Saadani National Park, Tanzania

This research explores the influence of attitudes towards conservation affecting livelihood decision-making of households in rural Tanzania through a case study of three villages adjacent to Saadani National Park. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews revealed that attitudes towards conservation were not a direct influence on livelihood decisions. Instead, people felt powerless over forces that have reduced resource productivity and undermined their ability to maintain the level of benefits from their livelihood activities. Changing environmental conditions, harmful harvesting practices, restricted access to land and impacts of other resource users were reported as the major reasons for the natural resource-based livelihood challenges that residents face. Household respondents reported the need to adapt livelihood practices to boost or restore that productivity and compensate for diminished resource access. Short-term need drives decision-making where people are vulnerable to change, not long-term considerations of resource integrity. The main barriers that impede the influence of positive conservation attitudes are low resource productivity, small-scale economies and entrenched cultural traditions.

SALINITY CHANGES IN SOUTH WEST BANGLADESH AND ITS IMPACT ON RURAL LIVELIHOODS

Salinity intrusion greatly affects the livelihood decisions which farmers have to make. Both environmental and anthropogenic factors affect salt water intrusion within south west Bangladesh. Although climate change and sea level rise are thought to increase salinity, siltation and sedimentation of canals reduces access to surface water and prevents salt water intrusion in to farming zones. This study highlights how decreasing salinity within Khulna and Bagerhat districts is allowing farmers to diversify their agricultural practices, reducing vulnerability and improving household income and food security. By using both quantitative and qualitative data collection, semi structured interviews were held with farmers and landless people to understand how they adapt to salinity changes. The results show that whilst salinity decreases were identical across both districts, farmers adapt to the changes in a number of ways based primarily on their access to water. Whilst shrimp production struggles to improve, increases in freshwater production of prawns, fin fish and dyke crops partially confirm that salinity was decreasing within the area. Furthermore, increases in income generation were also observed confirming that diversification improved rural livelihoods. In the wider context, understanding farmer mitigation strategies towards the environment allows for future comparisons to be made on climate change and sea level rise which are widely considered to drive salt water intrusion further in land.

Husband and Wife Perspectives on Farm Household Decision-making Authority and Evidence on Intra-household Accord in Rural Tanzania

We use OLS and logistic regression to investigate variation in husband and wife perspectives on the division of authority over agriculture-related decisions within households in rural Tanzania. Using original data from husbands and wives (interviewed separately) in 1,851 Tanzanian households, the analysis examines differences in the wife's authority over 13 household and farming decisions. The study finds that the level of decision-making authority allocated to wives by their husbands, and the authority allocated by wives to themselves, both vary significantly across households. In addition to commonly considered assets such as women's age and education, in rural agricultural households women's health and labor activities also appear to matter for perceptions of authority. We also find husbands and wives interviewed separately frequently disagree with each other over who holds authority over key farming, family, and livelihood decisions. Further, the results of OLS and logistic regression suggest that even after controlling for various individual, household, and regional characteristics, husband and wife claims to decision-making authority continue to vary systematically by decision-suggesting that decision characteristics themselves also matter. The absence of spousal agreement over the allocation of authority (i.e., a lack of "intra-household accord") over different farm and household decisions is problematic for interventions seeking to use survey data to develop and inform strategies for reducing gender inequalities or empowering women in rural agricultural households. Findings provide policy and program insights into when studies interviewing only a single spouse or considering only a single decision may inaccurately characterize intra-household decision-making dynamics.

Developing a holistic approach to the analysis of farmer decision-making: Implications for adaptation policy and practice in developing countries

Smallholder farmers operate within a risky and uncertain context. In addition to climate variability and climate change, social, environmental, institutional, and market-related dynamics affect their agricultural decisions and ability to cope and adapt. In this paper, we develop and apply a set of framing questions to investigate the factors shaping farmer decision-making and how these are situated in pathways of response. Drawing on a literature review of decision-making for risk management, five questions are posed to frame enquiry: what livelihood decisions are undertaken by households, who makes what decisions, when do households make decisions and why do they make them, and how do decision making processes evolve and response pathways arise. This approach conceptualises and explores household decision-making in a holistic manner, moving beyond previous studies that examine smallholder decisions through disciplinary boundaries (e.g. psychology, economics, risk management) or particular theoretical approaches (e.g. bounded rationality, theory of planned behaviour). The framing questions together with key insights from literature are used to design and interpret empirical evidence from Pratapgarh, a tribal-dominated rainfed district in southeast Rajasthan, India. The findings suggest that while resource ownership and access are the main drivers of decision-making, socio-cognitive factors such as perceived adaptive capacity and perceived efficacy to carry out adaptive actions are equally important factors mediating farmer responses. We also find that the holistic approach helps explain how personal motivations and individual perceptions of adaptive capacity interact with socioeconomic, climatic, and agro-ecological dynamics at local and regional scales to mediate risk perception and inform response behaviour. A typology of response pathways demonstrates how different households’ trajectories are determined. Making a case for mixed methods to investigate farmer decision-making holistically, this paper provides an approach that reflects the complex and iterative nature of real farmer decision-making and can be used by researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to better understand and describe decision making and to develop informed policies and interventions.

Transhumant Pastoralism in the Context of Socioeconomic and Climate Change in the Mountains of Nepal

This research explored how transhumant pastoralism has been sustained and promoted in the context of socioeconomic and climate change in the mountain regions of Nepal. Based on case study research conducted in Nepal’s western mountains, the status, opportunities, and constraints of transhumant pastoralism in the changing context were analyzed. We found that indigenous and traditional knowledge, feelings of cultural identity, collective ownership, income, and mutual benefits have acted as motivating factors in sustaining transhumant pastoralism for generations. The continuation of this practice is threatened by the following challenges: the impacts of climate change on mountain ecosystems, socioeconomic changes, market influence on livelihood decisions, youth migration and labor shortage, low motivation of local people to engage in livestock rearing, and conflicts between herder and nonherder communities and institutions, as well as inadequate policy support and institutional arrangements. We conclude that...

Adapting to climate change in shifting landscapes of belief

Religious beliefs, an important element of culture, influence adaptation to climate change. Less understood is how changing beliefs shape the adaptive capacity of communities responding to climate change. In the last century sub-Saharan Africa has experienced a transformation in beliefs. Since 1900 Christians have increased 70-fold while in rural areas Traditional Beliefs and associated Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) continue to influence the lived practices of vulnerable rural communities. Using two case studies of rural communities in Malawi (Bolero) and Zambia (Monze) we explore how Christianity and Traditional beliefs (and associated TEK) co-exist and assess if, and how, holding multiple belief systems affects climate-sensitive livelihood practices of food production. In Bolero we observed a lack of tensions between belief systems with Traditional leaders and elders noting the flexibility of adhering to both belief systems. In Monze however, basing livelihood decisions on the practice of rain-rituals resulted in strong tensions. In both communities elders noted their concern of how changing beliefs affect adherence to TEK management practices. We find that culture and beliefs play an important role in adaptive capacity but are not static. In the context of changing beliefs, adaptive capacity will be influenced by how different belief systems co-exist and how epistemological and intergenerational frictions are negotiated. As climate services become the focus of research and government interventions in vulnerable regions, avoiding culturally and economically expensive mal-adaptation will require giving attention to the complexity and dynamism of changing religious landscapes.

Strengthening horizontal and vertical linkages for honey value chain development in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region

Mountain value chains are influenced by the mountain specificities including inaccessibility, diversity, marginality and fragility, and therefore need to be looked at in the light of these pre-conditions in order to favour the poor and enable them to enter into dynamic global markets. Mainstreaming the poor and the disadvantaged in the mountain value chains is a bigger challenge since they face greater mountain specificities along with other pre-conditions, with the biggest challenge being societal barriers and their limited negotiating skills that prevent them from penetrating the market. This paper focuses on ways of mainstreaming the poor and marginalised people in the honey value chain by strengthening linkages for inclusive growth. This action research was conducted in collaboration with our partner organisations in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan, during the period between 2010 and 2012 with the objective of bringing greater benefits to the poor producers and honey collectors through the adoption of a pro-poor mountain-specific value chain approach. This research has tried to prove that in rural areas where access to income is limited, small scale commercial beekeeping can contribute significantly to livelihood security by strengthening the collaboration among the beekeepers and chain actors at various levels. Our efforts have concentrated on organising and strengthening beekeepers’ groups or self-help groups (SHGs)/associations or cooperatives and developing community institutions, while building their capacity to take livelihood decisions and providing them with a range of support services and linkages.

Making Sense of Local Climate Change in Rural Tanzania Through Knowledge Co-Production

Shifting climate parameters and their rippling effects through social-ecological systems have altered the abilities of rural households and communities around the world to make livelihood decisions based on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). National and regional climate services are responding, but the information they provide may not meet local needs or concerns in an accessible format. Previous anthropological research suggests that integrating different knowledge systems to improve climate services, assist in local decision-making, and strengthen climate models remains problematic. To reduce or avoid some of these problems, a participatory, community-based environmental monitoring project was co-developed with residents of four rural Tanzanian communities. A field team brought in equipment and facilitated the training of local monitors, while communities chose the environmental sectors to monitor, collected and analyzed data, and evaluated the results in light of their local TEK. This interaction between scientists and participating community members highlights the value of knowledge co-production in making sense of environmental changes associated with climate that are observed and experienced at the local level. These activities also empowered communities to explore local climate adaptation and policy creation.

Re-conceptualizing urban agriculture: an exploration of farming along the banks of the Yamuna River in Delhi, India

The proportion of the world’s population living in urban areas is increasing rapidly, with the vast majority of this growth in developing countries. As growing populations in urban areas demand greater food supplies, coupled with a rise in rural to urban migration and the need to create livelihood options, there has been an increase in urban agriculture worldwide. Urban agriculture is commonly discussed as a sustainable solution for dealing with gaps in the local food system, and proponents often highlight the many social, environmental, and economic benefits. We argue that the sustainability of urban agriculture should not be assumed. There is a need for research to take a bottom-up approach, exploring the influence that city-level conditions have on livelihood decisions by farmers and how this shapes the practice of urban agriculture. This paper uses a case study for an in-depth look at urban agriculture in Delhi, India to understand from the farmers’ perspective how urban agriculture is practiced and what factors influence farmers’ livelihood decisions. Using a team-based, multi-method Rapid Assessment Process, data were collected through preliminary key informant interviews, field observations, semi-structured interviews with urban farmers, and geographic information systems mapping. This research provides an in-depth description of market-oriented urban agriculture in a developing country, explores how farmers’ livelihood decisions are embedded in the urban context, and discusses the potential of urban agriculture as a sustainable city-system.

Coping with Natural Hazards in a Conservation Context: Resource-Use Decisions of Maasai Households During Recent and Historical Droughts.

Analyzing people's decisions can reveal key variables that affect their behaviors. Despite the demonstrated utility of this approach, it has not been applied to livelihood decisions in the context of conservation initiatives. We used ethnographic decision modeling in combination with qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine the herding decisions of Maasai households living near Tarangire National Park (TNP) during recent and historical droughts. The effects of the establishment of TNP on herding practices during drought were different than anticipated based on the size and reliability of several prominent resource areas that are now within the park. We found little evidence of people relying on these swamps and rivers for watering cattle during historical droughts; rather, these sites were more commonly used as grazing areas for small stock and wet-season grazing areas for cattle to avoid disease carried by calving wildebeest. Yet during the 2009 drought, many herders moved their livestock - especially cattle from outside of the study area - toward TNP in search of grazing. Our analysis of herding decisions demonstrates that resource-use decisions are complex and incorporate a variety of information beyond the size or reliability of a given resource area, including contextual factors (e.g., disease, conflict, grazing) and household factors (e.g., social capital, labor, herd size). More broadly, this research illustrates that pairing decision modeling with QCA is a structured approach to identifying these factors and understanding how opportunities, constraints, and perceptions influence how people respond to changes in resource access.