Low-income Rural Households Research Articles

Technology and communal culture of sharing and giving: implications on household savings behavior in Fiji

PurposeThis study examines how the introduction of mobile money transfers, while making it efficient and convenient to access funds, has affected rural households’ savings behavior and the banking sector.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes Fiji’s most recent agricultural census data to model the agricultural household’s saving decision. The study estimates an probit model to examine rural households' savings behavior. Furthermore, it utilizes time series secondary data to examine how funds transfer has been channeled to rural households in Fiji.FindingsFirstly, the results demonstrate that with the mobile money transfer platform launch, the banking sector has lost substantial money previously used to pass through its system, thus losing service fees and interest income. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that those using mobile wallet platforms to receive money are more likely not to have a savings account with the bank. Noting the cultural systems and social settings of the native households and the ease of payments via the mobile platform, they tend to spend more on consumption rather than saving, thus making these households more vulnerable during shocks such as natural disasters.Originality/valueWhile mobile money transfer is hailed as a revolution, no research has yet picked up the downside to it, that of undermining the very effort by policymakers to get low-income rural households to save. Secondly, this study also highlights how mobile money transfer deprives the banking system of a significant transfer fee income and a source of funds to pool and lend to earn interest income. Furthermore, this study brings to the forefront a dichotomy about how a rural indigenous community sees the welfare and prosperity of their community much differently than what economics textbooks portray.

The neighborhood effects on the online financial investment of rural households: Evidence from China.

Neighborhood effects are a common strategy for rural households to deal with irrational situations such as deficient information and ability. Based on the 2019 CHFS survey data, we designed a Probit model to verify whether neighborhood effects exist in the online financial investment of rural households. Our paper constructs a multiple mediation model to explore its mechanism. Otherwise, we execute the heterogeneity analysis by dividing the total sample into groups. Our paper proved that (1) Rural households have significant neighborhood effects on online financial investment. (2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that neighborhood effects are stronger among women, the younger, low-education, and low-income rural households. (3) Through the multiple mediation model, we proved that the neighborhood effects on online financial investment of the peasant household work by the financial knowledge spillover and risk-taking enhancement. Our study conduces to a better understanding of the financial decision-making of rural households, which may provide a practical implication for the popularization of new financial products and the optimal design of policy interventions.

Geospatial and socioeconomic prediction of value-driven clean cooking uptake

Understanding the community-specific values and needs of consumers is essential for effective targeting and planning of energy services such as clean cooking. Many clean cooking programmes do not however consider these values and needs in targeting, as they can be difficult and time-consuming to ascertain. This work therefore explores whether community needs and values related to cooking can be predicted, using a novel approach that understands the relationship between socioeconomic, demographic, and geospatial data. Specifically, this study investigates (i) which values are most closely linked to cookstoves in rural Uganda; and (ii) whether it is possible to predict cookstove prioritisation and related values using openly-available data. Using machine-learning approaches, user-perceived value data from 199 rural low-income households in Uganda are mapped against socioeconomic, demographic, and geospatial data to identify correlations and intersections. The values most closely related to cookstoves were found to be food security, time benefit, accessibility to services, fixed costs, and being healthy. The most important parameters in predicting who would hold these values were found to be: the number of people living in a house; age; quintile 2 of the wealth index; annual accumulated precipitation; forest density; night time luminance; and distance to water source, nearest forest within ten kilometers, and nearest road. This study takes a first step towards enabling energy service providers to target areas with a greater likelihood of uptake based on open-source datasets. While cooking in Uganda is analysed herein, the proposed method can be applied for different geographies and energy services.

Do low-income households inevitably benefit more from microfinance participation? Evidence from rural China

It is widely accepted that microfinance has the potential to contribute to household welfare in developing countries, while few studies have highlighted the extent to which microfinance contributes to low-income rural households. This article employs household-level data to identify factors that influence low-income households’ decisions to participate in microfinance for farming production activities, and how these factors and microfinance affect agricultural income. The study applies an endogenous switching regression model to account for the selection bias and treatment effect, and uses a decomposition method to examine the direction and extent of the effect of participating in microfinance on the agricultural income gap of rural households. The empirical findings show that the participation of low-income households in microfinance has significantly increased their agricultural income. In addition, the study further shows that microfinance has exacerbated the agricultural income gap of rural households.

Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on household diet diversity in rural Bihar, India: a longitudinal survey

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic disrupted livelihoods and diets across the world. This study aimed to assess changes in household diet diversity and food consumption between the pre-COVID-19 period (December 2019–January 2020) and during the lockdown (March–May 2020), and to identify the socio-economic characteristics that determine these changes in rural Bihar, India.MethodsHouseholds that had provided their phone numbers in the pre-COVID-19 household survey (n = 1797) were contacted for interviews during the lockdown telephonic survey in a longitudinal survey in two districts (Gaya and Nalanda) in Bihar. In total, 939 households were interviewed. Using data on food consumption from both surveys, 876 households were included in the analysis. Food and Agriculture Organization’s household diet diversity score (HDDS) was used to compare diet diversity between the pre-COVID-19 period and during the lockdown. Logistic regression was used to identify factors affecting household diet diversity and food consumption in the study households.ResultsLow diet diversity increased from 51.6% (95% CI 48.3–54.9) to 75.8% (95% CI 73.0–78.6) from the pre-COVID-19 to the lockdown period. Reduced food consumption was reported across all foods with nearly a quarter of the households reporting reduced consumption of fruits (27%), pulses (25%) and cereals (21%). Nearly 60% and above reported stopping consumption of nutrient-rich foods such as chicken, fish and eggs although the population was predominantly non-vegetarian. Logistic regression analysis revealed that taking a loan from neighbours/relatives (OR = 1.8; 95% CI 1.3–2.5) and belonging to lower social groups (OR = 1.8; 95% CI 1.1–2.9) increased odds of low HDDS. While those possessing ration cards had lower odds of reduced consumption of all food items, it was not associated with stopping consumption of any food item. In an unadjusted analysis, receipt of cash transfer during lockdown was also not associated with diet diversity (OR = 1.2; 95% CI 0.9–1.7).ConclusionsCOVID-19 has impacted the consumption of nutrient-rich foods among already low-income rural households in India. Maintaining diet diversity among socio-economically vulnerable households during periods when food consumption is most threatened by shocks such as COVID-19 would need sustained government support in terms of social protection coverage and benefit transfers in rural communities.

Digital divide and household energy poverty in China

This study explores whether and how the digital divide affects household energy poverty in China. Based on China Family Panel Studies data, the digital divide index at the household level is constructed using the factor analysis method. We then examine the effects of the digital divide on household energy poverty. The results suggest that the digital divide hinders the reduction of household energy poverty. Our results are robust against different energy poverty measures. We also conduct the heterogeneity analysis of income groups, age groups, and urban and rural households. The findings demonstrate that the digital divide has a greater negative impact on alleviating energy poverty in low-income households, older households, and rural households. It also inhibits household energy poverty reduction by increasing income poverty and credit constraints, reducing employment, and weakening social capital. For developing countries such as China, the digital economy has developed rapidly. Nevertheless, the digital divide will inevitably impair the energy poverty reduction and welfare of some households. In digital economic development, we need to focus on the digital economy's efficiency, fairness, and inclusive development. Our findings can provide a micro basis for constructing the digital divide index, economic impact assessment, and policy design to narrow the digital divide in developing countries.

EFFECT OF MOBILE MONEY ON THE SAVING BEHAVIOR OF LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLD: EVIDENCES FROM DINAJPUR DISTRICT OF BANGLADESH

Mobile money is now extensively acknowledged in Bangladesh. This study tries to explore the ultimate effect of the mobile money use on the saving behavior in the rural low income households. For this purpose, this study applies cross sectional data of 200 samples. The data is collected from direct interview using simple random sampling in the sadar upazila of Dinajpur district. Logistic model and the two stage least square model are applied to identify the factors and effect of mobile money adoption on the saving behavior. The findings reveal that mobile money service adopters have higher degree of propensity to save compared to the non adopters. It also notifies that mobile money service adopter has 2 times higher propensity to save than non adopters. Moreover, rural residents have also higher propensity to save compared to the urban. This study suggests the mobile money services should be properly managed to stable financial inclusion in accordance with income groups, regional and social diversity. This may also helps to reduce the differences among the rural- urban and different income groups also by moving towards achieving sustainable goals.

Do agricultural subsidies raise the income of rural households effectively? Evidence from rural China

ABSTRACT This paper constructs a difference-in-difference (DID) model and uses the survey data of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to examine the impact of agricultural subsidies on the income of rural households. The empirical results although capture a significant increase of the income of rural households after the expansion policy of the agricultural subsidies, this improvement of income only can be confirmed in the low income rural households. In addition, two possible mechanisms can provide interpretations for the influence of agricultural subsidies on the income of rural households: (ⅰ) the support by agricultural subsidies increases the transfer income of rural households (transfer effect); (ⅱ) agricultural subsidies encourage farmers to invest their surplus labour in non-agricultural markets to obtain wage income (productivity effect).

Guinea fowl production: The potential for nutrition and income generation in rural households in Burkina Faso.

Small-scale poultry keeping is a common practice particularly among low-income households in sub-Saharan African countries. Due to the limited resources of these households, the flock is raised on a free-range basis, where the birds are left to fend for themselves, mostly affecting their performance. Well-structured poultry farming among these low-income households has the potential to improve not only the financial standing, but also the nutrition and health of the households. The purpose of this survey was to understand existing household food practices and aspirations for expanded poultry business among mothers of young children involved in smallholder guinea fowl farming in Burkina Faso. This was a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of women engaged in small-scale poultry. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Questionnaire for data collection was administered in a face-to-face interview format by trained research assistants. All interviews were conducted in MORE, the predominant language spoken in the study area. Descriptive analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel and reported as frequencies and percentages for categorical variables, and means for continuous variables. One hundred and fifty women with children under 5 years of which 98.7% were the biological mothers participated in the study. About 68% of participants were 28 years or older, 45% have no formal education and 30% had 6 or more children in the household. Although over 58% of participants reported household income from agriculture, only 8.7% was livestock related. About half of the participants reported they would market/sell products from expansion of guinea fowl farming to raise additional income to support the household, while another half would use some of the meat and eggs to improve the nutrition of the household. Findings from this study suggest mothers from low-income rural households are interested in income-generating avenues, particularly, expansion in their smallholder guinea fowl farming to improve the socio-economic standing and nutritional health of their household. Key words: Guinea Fowl Production, Low-income Households, Nutrition, Nutritional Health, Poultry

Rural Food Insecurity: A Longitudinal Analysis of Low-Income Rural Households with Children in the South

Researchers have noted large spatial variations in rates of food insecurity. But little research exists on why this is so and the impacts it has on rural families. Drawing on a mixed-methods longitudinal study with 124 poor and working-class households in North Carolina, we analyze the processes that shape lower-income rural families’ access to food. We trace the narratives of three families whose stories are emblematic of themes from the larger data set to illumine how space and context influence families’ experiences across the life course. As the caregivers in our study navigated how to feed their families, living in a rural area shaped the resources and often precarious forms of support that they drew on from their social networks, local communities, and the state.

How Is Connectedness With Nature Linked to Life Satisfaction or Depression Among Chinese People Living in Rural Low-Income Households? A Serial Mediation Model.

ObjectivesIn this study a serial multiple mediation model is tested to investigate the potential sequentially-mediating effect of affect balance and social cohesion on the association between connectedness to nature and life satisfaction or depression.MethodsA total of 675 Chinese people from Jiangsu province living in rural low-income households participated in the study. The Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS), the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), the Social cohesion scale (SCS), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and the Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQ9) were measured in this paper.ResultsResults indicated that the multiple serial mediation of affect balance and social cohesion on the association between connectedness to nature and life satisfaction was significant among the full-size sample, the adult-report, and the old people report, but that this effect is relatively small. Specifically, serial mediation accounted for 2.01, 1.69, 2.67% of the total effect explained by connectedness to nature on life satisfaction, while it accounted for 2.66, 2.35, 2.91% of the total effect explained by connectedness to nature on depression among the full sample population, adults, and old people, respectively.ConclusionsThe findings corroborate the important roles of affect balance and social cohesion in activating connectedness to nature. We discussed the possible ways that affect balance and social cohesion might enhance life satisfaction and decrease depression for Chinese people living in rural low-income households. We also discussed the limitations of this study. More mechanisms could be considered in future studies.

Evaluation of baseline firewood consumption for domestic cooking in low-income rural households in Bahia, Brazil

Firewood is still a major source of household energy in most parts of the world, including Brazil. This study establishes baseline fuelwood consumption for domestic cooking by rural families in Bahia, Brazil, as part of a socioenvironmental project centered on stove substitution. The project, titled “Fogão do Mar” (Seaside Stove), engaged families in adopting more efficient stoves to replace the traditional open-air, rudimentary models. The study involved household visits and interviews with 103 low-income rural families to estimate firewood consumption for domestic cooking. The results showed that all households have liquid petroleum gas (LPG) stove, but most of the families prefer to use a firewood stove for cooking. The annual per capita consumption of firewood was estimated to be 1,297±952 kg, which is higher than estimate by governmental data (560 kg), as well as other rural regions. Therefore, the consumption of firewood is regionalized. Economic factors are decisive in the choice of fuel for cooking.

Challenges of agricultural insurance development in Albania

Agricultural production is exposed to natural risks that cannot be prevented and lead not only to production losses but also to a decrease in farmers’ income.As a result of these risks, farmers often do not have the opportunity to pay their loans. Against risky borrowers, credit institutions refuse to give loans. Under these conditions, the government must intervene in risk management, trying to reduce these negative effects. The provision of agricultural products as one of the most important instruments for the financial support of this sector will be the focus of this paper. Agricultural insurance provides compensation for economic losses resulting from unfavorable natural phenomena, contributing to the reduction of poverty. Without adequate insurance, lenders would not provide farmers with insurance policies. Agricultural insurance is a tool that helps farmers to predict the future, to protect the business from unforeseen events, supply and demand fluctuations or various operational challenges. In the case of developing countries such as Albania, these markets are not developed. A main problem in the development of these markets is the lack of demand due to unaffordable prices for farmers. One of the biggest challenges of the agricultural insurance industry is not only providing the right insurance product, but also helping agricultural sector in improving risk management practices to increase production. As Hazell (2009) puts it, many agricultural risks cannot be insured on a financially sound basis, but there is scope for increased insurance of farm assets, of the life and health of rural people, and of some specific perils that affect crop and livestock yields. Such insurance could be efficiently provided by the private sector if governments were to remove some of the important constraints impinging on commercial insurers. The greatest challenge is to find ways of insuring low-income rural households against natural hazards on a financially sound basis.

Livelihood Adaptation of Rural Households under Livelihood Stress: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China

The welfare of many poor and low-income rural households is vulnerable to earthquakes and secondary geological disasters. The academic literature, however, pays little attention to the livelihood pressure, adaptability, and livelihood strategies of these households. Based on the survey data of 327 rural households in the Wenchuan and Lushan earthquake-stricken areas in the Sichuan Province, the livelihood pressure, adaptability, and livelihood strategy characteristics of rural households were analyzed, and the disordered multi-classification logistic regression model was constructed to explore the correlation between the above-mentioned variables. The results show that: (1) Rural households face the greatest economic pressure and the least social pressure; rural households have the strongest adaptability in social capital and the lowest adaptability in financial capital. The proportion of rural households that chose the aid livelihood strategy was the highest, while the proportion of rural households that chose the adjustment livelihood strategy was the lowest. (2) Compared with the expanded livelihood strategy, (a) When the health pressure is higher, the rural households are more inclined to choose the expanded livelihood strategy, followed by the contractive livelihood strategy and, finally, the aid livelihood strategies; (b), the higher the physical capital, the more often the rural households tend to choose the expanded livelihood strategy compared to the adjustment livelihood strategy; (c), The higher the financial capital of farm households, the more they prefer contractive livelihood strategies compared to the expanded livelihood strategy and (d), compared with the aid livelihood strategy, rural households with greater economic pressure are more inclined to choose the expanded livelihood strategy.This study can provide a reference for the establishment of relevant policies related to the adaptation capacity of rural households in the earthquake hazard zone.

Microfinance for clean cooking: What lessons can be learned for scaling up LPG adoption in Kenya through managed loans?

Liquidity constraints are a key barrier to acquisition and sustained use of clean household energy in resource-poor settings. This study evaluates a pilot microfinance initiative in Kenya to help low-income rural households access liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking. Program beneficiaries received a six-month loan that covered all equipment costs and was to be repaid in monthly installments. We present results from surveys of beneficiaries (n = 69) after they began using LPG, as well as 332 non-beneficiaries from the same community (to understand how beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries differ in cooking patterns and socioeconomic outcomes). 94% of beneficiaries had repaid their loan in full and on time at the time of data collection. Meanwhile, beneficiaries were more likely than non-beneficiaries to use LPG as their primary cooking fuel (76.8% of beneficiaries versus 38.8% of non-beneficiaries). While 81.1% of beneficiaries who used LPG as their primary cooking fuel reported multiple fuel use, we find beneficiaries increased LPG use by 5.9 h per week with a corresponding decrease of 4.8 h in weekly use of biomass fuel. Our findings suggest that promoting LPG usage through microloans for equipment is likely to be both commercially viable and beneficial to health through decreased use of polluting biomass fuel.

Maternal Stress Moderates the Relationship of Food Insufficiency with Body Mass Index Trajectories from Childhood to Early Adulthood among U.S. Rural Youth.

Background: Findings on the relationships between household food insufficiency (HFI), maternal stress, and youth body mass index (BMI) are mixed, possibly due to cross-sectional study designs and measurement issues. Furthermore, little is known about how childhood exposure to HFI and maternal stress influences BMI into young adulthood among rural youth. We aimed to determine the independent and moderating relationships of HFI and maternal perceived stress on youth BMI trajectories from age 9 to 24 years. Methods: We used longitudinal data from rural New York youth (n = 341). At youth age 9 years, parents reported HFI using a reliable one-item measure, and mothers responded to the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; range: 0-40). BMI was calculated (kg/m2) from objective measures of height and weight at 9, 13, 17, and 24 years. Multivariate random-intercept trajectory models estimated the relationships of HFI and PSS on BMI trajectories (p < 0.05 for main effects, p < 0.10 for interactions). Results: At age 9 years, 16.4% experienced HFI and mean (standard deviation) BMI and PSS were 18.4 (3.6) kg/m2 and 7.7 (2.9), respectively. HFI and PSS were not associated with BMI trajectories (p = 0.18, p = 0.64, respectively), but their interaction was significant (p < 0.01). Each one-unit increase in PSS was associated with 0.6 (0.2) kg/m2 higher mean change in BMI trajectories for youth in food-insufficient, compared with food-sufficient, households. Conclusions: Higher levels of maternal stress in food-insufficient households may lead to greater increases in BMI from childhood to young adulthood. Public health interventions should simultaneously address parental stress and quality food access among low-income rural households.

The Effectiveness of Technology-Aided Monitoring for Early Childhood Vaccination Coverage: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Achieving population-wide vaccination coverage against vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) remains a challenge across the globe. A promising solution involves technology-aided monitoring and accountability, which has promised to improve vaccination rates. The current study estimates the impact of a similar intervention on early childhood vaccination rates in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. During late 2014, E-VACCS (an Electronic Vaccine Registration System) was implemented across the province of Punjab, one of the four provinces in Pakistan. We use yearly data (2010-2019) from Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) in a difference-in-differences framework to exploit the natural across-province over-time variation offered to us by Punjab’s adoption of E-VACCS. We analyze the impact of E-VACCS on complete vaccination coverage as well as antigen-specific vaccination rates. Our analysis suggests that E-VACCS did improve vaccination coverage but these increases are largely driven by specific sub-populations. The intervention led to a 2.2% increase in the instance of a child having received at least 1 dose of vaccination. Across urban households, we find a 6.2% increase in vaccination coverage on the intensive margin. However these treatment effects within urban areas are limited to mid-high income households. Our estimates for antigen-specific rates of vaccination coverage confirm similar trends. Among urban mid-high income households, improvements occurred in the antigen-specific coverage rates for vaccines administered towards the end of the childhood vaccination cycle (.e.g D-Tap-3 or Hep-B-3). However for rural low-income households, we find negative treatment effects for antigen-specific vaccine coverage rates, particularly for the three hepatitis doses. The results suggest that the increase in vaccination coverage across urban mid-high income households came at the expense of a significant decrease in coverage across low-income rural households, signaling redirection of critical resources. Our estimates remain robust to several variations in the specifications. Further robustness checks are provided through event study plots and synthetic control methods.

Comparison of the effects of different subsidy forms on improving food security of low-income rural households in China

Comparison of the effects of different subsidy forms on improving food security of low-income rural households in China

Outpatient and Inpatient Service Use by Chinese Adults Living in Rural Low-Income Households

Background: This study applied the Andersen Model of Health Care Utilization to explore the variables associated with health service use among Chinese adults living in rural low-income households. Method: A survey of 2,429 adults living in 787 low-income households in Jiangsu, China was conducted. Respondents were asked the presence of outpatient service in the past one month and the amount of hospitalization in the past one year. Mixed effect logistic and negative binomial models were used to examine the relationship of individual-level and household-level characteristics with health service use. Results: Health condition was the predominant determinant of both outpatient and inpatient service use (Odds Ratio [OR] >1, p<0.001). Individuals living in a poor household were less likely to use outpatient service (OR=0.05, 95% confidence interval CI: 0.00, 0.71), and the longer in poverty status the less likely to use outpatient service (OR=0.92, CI: 0.86, 0.99). Age was associated with lower likelihood to use outpatient service (OR=0.93, CI: 0.93, 1.00), and this relationship was stronger for larger households (OR=1.01, CI: 1.00, 1.01). For inpatient service use, most household-level measures were insignificant. Conclusion: Rural Chinese health service use was influenced primarily by needs variables. Outpatient service use was constrained by household enabling variables. Older adults were at a disadvantage for using outpatient service when the family prioritized younger members in allocating resources. These results suggest the need for policy advocacy to expand insurance reimbursement and improve benefits for poor older adults.

Research Review on Formulation and Sensory Evaluation of Complementary Foods from Cereals and Legumes in Ethiopia

Since infant food protein-energy malnutrition is a problem in Africa and other developing nations of the world. Food and Agricultural Organization’s statistics also reveal that in Africa, more than one in four people are malnourished. Food cereal grains are a major staple in many African homes contributing significant amounts of energy protein, but limiting in essential amino acid of lysine. Legumes on the other hand are protein and amino acid rich foods, but also lacking in sulphurcontaining amino acids. Hence, a combination of these two grain foods would improve the protein and nutrient density of the subsequent food products. Probably due to their high nutritional values, however, this review therefore, assesses various works in literature on the use of these crops to produce composite food products. Complementary foods in most developing countries are based on staple cereal or root crops. Although, commercial foods of high quality are occasionally available, they are often expensive and therefore unaffordable by low-income rural households. Different approaches are needed to offer families the opportunity to feed their infants on improved formulations using low cost and locally available staples, because of Protein-energy malnutrition among children is the major health challenges and it may be related to low nutritional quality of traditional complementary foods and high cost of quality protein based complementary foods. This review also aimed at the formulation, preparation and evaluation of low-cots, locally available products based on cereals and pulses.