The evolving role of farm and off-farm jobs in rural Africa

Livelihood sources in rural Africa are diverse and dynamic. Using recent primary data from four African countries — Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia — we consider regions with different conditions related to climate, agroecology, infrastructure, and nature conservation to analyze the role of various income sources for households and individuals. While most rural households are involved in small-scale farming, we challenge the conventional notion that own agricultural activities still constitute the main source of income. Off-farm sources account for 60% of total household income on average. The off-farm income share increases with total income, meaning that the poorest households are the ones most dependent on agriculture. These patterns are similar across all four countries. While the concrete off-farm activities differ by context, most off-farm jobs are self-employed activities in small informal businesses. More lucrative formal employment opportunities are rare and mostly pursued by individuals with post-secondary education and training. Males are more likely to be involved in wage employment than females. Furthermore, individual social networks and access to road and market infrastructure increase the likelihood of off-farm employment. These results emphasize the policy need to acknowledge the important role of rural off-farm jobs and to invest more into generating inclusive non-agricultural employment

Commercial Rabbit Farming and Poverty in Urban and Peri-Urban Kenya

Research has shown that agricultural commercialization is an effective way of boosting farmers’ welfare. Is this true for urban or peri-urban farmers? We attempt to answer this question by assessing the effects of rabbit commercialization on multidimensional poverty among urban farmers in Kenya. While previous studies have analyzed commercialization in terms of crops, small livestock such as rabbit has received little attention. Additionally, most studies use income to capture poverty without considering other deprivations such as education, health and living standards. Here, we assess the effect of rabbit commercialization on multidimensional poverty among urban and peri-urban farmers. Data from 260 respondents is used. Findings show that rabbit commercialization is associated with a decrease in multidimensional poverty among urban and peri-urban farmers. This means that rabbit commercialization has a potential of improving living standards of urban poor. Other findings show that multidimensional poverty is positively associated with increase in education, access to credit, and reduced family sizes. Policy implication of our findings is that there is need to focus on promotion of commercialization among smallholder urban farmers through expansion of microfinance sector among urban dwellers to reduce financial market failures caused by inadequate access to financial services. Additionally, we recommend the promotion of training programs in different sectors such as rabbit farming. Urban dwellers with large households to be empowered to ensure all household members participate in income generating activities such as rabbit farming and commercialization

The evolving role of farm and off-farm jobs in rural Africa

Livelihood sources in rural Africa are diverse and dynamic. Using recent primary data from four African countries - Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia - we consider regions with different conditions related to climate, agroecology, infrastructure, and nature conservation to analyze the role of various income sources for households and individuals. While most rural households are involved in small-scale farming, we challenge the conventional notion that own agricultural activities still constitute the main source of income. Off-farm sources account for 60% of total household income on average. The off-farm income share increases with total income, meaning that the poorest households are the ones most dependent on agriculture. These patterns are similar across all four countries. While the concrete off-farm activities differ by context, most off-farm jobs are self-employed activities in small informal businesses. More lucrative formal employment opportunities are rare and mostly pursued by individuals with post-secondary education and training. Males are more likely to be involved in wage employment than females. Furthermore, individual social networks and access to road and market infrastructure increase the likelihood of off-farm employment. These results emphasize the policy need to acknowledge the important role of rural off-farm jobs and to invest more into generating inclusive non-agricultural employment

The evolving role of farm and off-farm jobs in rural Africa

Livelihood sources in rural Africa are diverse and dynamic. Using recent primary data from four African countries — Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia — we consider regions with different conditions related to climate, agroecology, infrastructure, and nature conservation to analyze the role of various income sources for households and individuals. While most rural households are involved in small-scale farming, we challenge the conventional notion that own agricultural activities still constitute the main source of income. Off-farm sources account for 60% of total household income on average. The off-farm income share increases with total income, meaning that the poorest households are the ones most dependent on agriculture. These patterns are similar across all four countries. While the concrete off-farm activities differ by context, most off-farm jobs are self-employed activities in small informal businesses. More lucrative formal employment opportunities are rare and mostly pursued by individuals with post-secondary education and training. Males are more likely to be involved in wage employment than females. Furthermore, individual social networks and access to road and market infrastructure increase the likelihood of off-farm employment. These results emphasize the policy need to acknowledge the important role of rural off-farm jobs and to invest more into generating inclusive non-agricultural employment

Does climate-smart agriculture improve household income and food security? Evidence from Southern Ethiopia

Climate change threatens African countries’ economic development and afects agriculture and food security. Ethiopia is especially vulnerable to the negative efects of climate change because its economy is dependent on climate-sensitive livelihoods that have limited potential for adaptation. Emerging evidence indicates that climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change and increase agricultural productivity, thereby enhancing household income and food security. In the study area, diferent CSA practices have been adopted to mitigate the negative efects of climate change and improve agricultural productivity, income, and food security. Therefore, this study examines the impact of CSA practices on household income and food security in southern Ethiopia. A total of 385 households were selected using multistage sampling. Primary and secondary data were used, and propensity score matching with diferent types of matching algorithms, such as nearest neighbor, kernel, and radius matching, was employed to quantify the conditional impacts of CSA intervention on farm income and food security. In comparison with non adopters farmers that have adopted CSA practices had a higher food consumption score between 6.27 and 8.15, which was statistically signifcant at the 1% level. Overall, 34.55% of interviewed households had acceptable food consumption scores, 44.68% had borderline, and 20.77% had poor food consumption scores. Furthermore, households that adopted CSA practices had a 20.30% higher average annual farm income per hectare than non-adopters. The study suggests that effective extension services, accurate climate information, and sound policy support are required to promote and scale up CSA measures in the study area to improve farmers’ adaptive capacity, farm income, and food security