Associations between poverty and socio-economic variables in a typical Tswana rural village: New insights

This paper reports on and analyzes primary survey data obtained from a survey of household heads on the rural village of Nshakazhogwe, a typical rural village in northeast Botswana. It examines the associations between the incidence of poverty of household heads in this village and the values of several socio-economic variables. The socio-economic variables considered are the age of the household head, the level of their educational attainment, their gender, the number of sources from which they obtain their income, whether or not they have some wage employment, whether they receive income transfers privately or from the government, whether they conduct a home business and whether or not they obtain income from sales of livestock, crops or natural resources. Some associations are found to be statistically insignificant but not all. The data enables a life cycle of the likely incidence of poverty of household heads to be derived. Some of our results differ from those suggested by the relevant literature. For example, the gender of the household head is not associated significantly with the incidence of poverty, neither is involvement or otherwise in wage employment, and a positive (but statistically insignificant) association is found to exist between the level of educational attainment and the incidence of poverty. Reasons for these and the other observed relationships are outlined. Further data gathering and analysis would be desirable to substantiate the hypotheses that emerge from this paper

Poverty and Social Deprivation in Botswana: A Rural Case Study

Poverty and social deprivation in Botswana are rising in rural areas while they are declining in urban towns and villages. Revenue from diamond mining is thought to have made a significant contribution to reducing poverty levels in cities and urban villages. However, the benefits from diamond revenue are perceived to have not reversed trends in rural poverty. In this study, contingency tables and chi-square tests are used to determine whether there is an association between the gender, educational status, and age of household heads and whether or not they believe their household is in the 20% of the least well-off households, in their selected rural village, Nshakashogwe. Such less well-off households if not in absolute poverty, are likely to be in comparative poverty. The results indicate that the gender of the household head is associated with household poverty in this village. Furthermore, the age of the household head is; the older is the household head, the less likely is the household to be in relative poverty. The relationship between the level of educational attainment of the household head and whether or not the head stated that their household is in the 20% least well-off in the village is almost the same for those with primary education or less and those who had completed secondary education but becomes significantly different when the household head has achieved tertiary education. Furthermore, household heads with higher levels of education compared to those with less education more frequently said that their economic situation had improved in the last ten years

The pattern of livelihoods in a typical rural village provides new perspectives on Botswana's development

Botswana’s average economic growth rate of about 8 per cent during 1985-2005 is one of highest in the world. A major contributor of this growth was mining which, in 2005/06, had a 41.4 per cent share of GDP. Various government welfare and empowerment programmes indicate that redistribution of the mineral wealth is widespread in Botswana. This article will show that the pattern of livelihoods in a typical rural village has changed and provide new perspectives on Botswana’s development. In particular, the article will show that contrary to expectations, agriculture is no longer a major source of income to the rural economy but income transfers from out migrants members of rural based households. It will also be shown that the proportion of the rural population that depend on agriculture that is poor is smaller than the non-poor, as is that among the recipients of government transfers. There is no evidence that transfers to rural areas are invested in productive activities. They seemed to be used for consumption purposes. We demonstrate with sorghum crop productivity trend in traditional agriculture to show that no significant improvement in rural economic activities has been observed. During the period 1995-2002, the proportion of food, beverages and tobacco imports to total imports of principal commodities have remained the same at about 14 per cent, indicating that local production of food has not had an impact in reducing food imports. This article will highlight the need for Botswana to increase its agricultural productivity of products that have high potential and can introduce backward and forward linkages such as milk production

Can subjective measures for rapid assessment of rural poverty and inequality be useful in Botswana?

Although middle income countries such as Botswana are credited with reliable data that are used in poverty measures, it is sometimes argued that the time lags between data generations or surveys are too wide. The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) in Botswana takes place every 10 years. The major constraints are capacity and budget considerations. In this article, we propose two subjective measures that have been successfully used elsewhere for adaptation in Botswana. We use data from Nshakazhogwe village case study to test whether these alternative measures of poverty and deprivation are correlated with objective measures of economic deprivation. The Pearson Chi-square tests of independence are applied to examine the independence and the results show that the null-hypothesis that subjective and objective measures of deprivation are independent should be rejected. These results are statistically significant and imply the relationship between the proposed subjective measures and objective variables are systematic in rural Botswana. Even though subjective measures seem to be fairly imprecise indicators of poverty and social disadvantage, the fact that they are statistically significant discriminators is encouraging. If changes in the incidence of poverty using the subjective measures are positively associated with changes based on objective measures, the results could indicate trends in poverty incidence and trigger timely relevant policy responses to address emerging poverty concerns. Finally, the problem of relying only on data generated between long-time intervals from normal in depth statistical surveys that are skill intensive and high cost would be reduced

The Pattern of Livelihoods in a Typical Rural Village Provides New Perspectives on Botswana's Development

Botswana’s average economic growth rate of about 8 per cent during 1985-2005 is one of highest in the world. A major contributor of this growth was mining which, in 2005/06, had a 41.4 per cent share of GDP. Various government welfare and empowerment programmes indicate that redistribution of the mineral wealth is widespread in Botswana. This article will show that the pattern of livelihoods in a typical rural village has changed and provide new perspectives on Botswana’s development. In particular, the article will show that contrary to expectations, agriculture is no longer a major source of income to the rural economy but income transfers from out migrants members of rural based households. It will also be shown that the proportion of the rural population that depend on agriculture that is poor is smaller than the non-poor, as is that among the recipients of government transfers. There is no evidence that transfers to rural areas are invested in productive activities. They seemed to be used for consumption purposes. We demonstrate with sorghum crop productivity trend in traditional agriculture to show that no significant improvement in rural economic activities has been observed. During the period 1995-2002, the proportion of food, beverages and tobacco imports to total imports of principal commodities have remained the same at about 14 per cent, indicating that local production of food has not had an impact in reducing food imports. This article will highlight the need for Botswana to increase its agricultural productivity of products that have high potential and can introduce backward and forward linkages such as milk production

Associations between Poverty and Socio-economic Variables in a Typical Tswana Rural Village: New Insights

This paper reports on and analyzes primary survey data obtained from a survey of household heads on the rural village of Nshakazhogwe, a typical rural village in northeast Botswana. It examines the associations between the incidence of poverty of household heads in this village and the values of several socio-economic variables. The socio-economic variables considered are the age of the household head, the level of their educational attainment, their gender, the number of sources from which they obtain their income, whether or not they have some wage employment, whether they receive income transfers privately or from the government, whether they conduct a home business and whether or not they obtain income from sales of livestock, crops or natural resources. Some associations are found to be statistically insignificant but not all. The data enables a life cycle of the likely incidence of poverty of household heads to be derived. Some of our results differ from those suggested by the relevant literature. For example, the gender of the household head is not associated significantly with the incidence of poverty, neither is involvement or otherwise in wage employment, and a positive (but statistically insignificant) association is found to exist between the level of educational attainment and the incidence of poverty. Reasons for these and the other observed relationships are outlined. Further data gathering and analysis would be desirable to substantiate the hypotheses that emerge from this paper

The Socio-Economic Situation of Female Heads and Poor Heads of Households in Rural Botswana: A Village Case Study

This article explores the socio-economic situation of female heads and poor heads of household in rural Botswana by means of a case study of the village of Nshakazhogwe, a village considered to be typical for rural east Botswana. It examines the extent to which the occurrence of poverty of household heads is related to their gender, varies with the numbers in that household, and depends on whether or not they have paid employment. The number of sources and types of sources of income that household heads have are considered and are found to be related to whether they are poor or not. Transfers of income (private and from government) are given particular attention as a potential means of reducing the incidence of poverty. In this regard, poor heads of household are found to be at a disadvantage compared to non-poor heads. The level of educational attainment of household heads in the village is studied and is shown to be related to their gender, as is the use of credit and sources from which credit is obtained. The study finds that government policy in Botswana is not well targeted to assisting female heads of household. On the face of it, policy seems to favour those rural heads of household that are not poor rather than the poor ones. However, it may be that government transfers enable some who could otherwise be poor to rise above the poverty line. This needs more study

Poverty and Social Deprivation in Botswana: A Rural Case Study

Poverty and social deprivation in Botswana are rising in rural areas while they are declining in urban towns and villages. Revenue from diamond mining is thought to have made a significant contribution to reducing poverty levels in cities and urban villages. However, the benefits from diamond revenue are perceived to have not reversed trends in rural poverty. In this study, contingency tables and chi-square tests are used to determine whether there is an association between the gender, educational status, and age of household heads and whether or not they believe their household is in the 20% of the least well-off households, in their selected rural village, Nshakashogwe. Such less well-off households if not in absolute poverty, are likely to be in comparative poverty. The results indicate that the gender of the household head is associated with household poverty in this village. Furthermore, the age of the household head is; the older is the household head, the less likely is the household to be in relative poverty. The relationship between the level of educational attainment of the household head and whether or not the head stated that their household is in the 20% least well-off in the village is almost the same for those with primary education or less and those who had completed secondary education but becomes significantly different when the household head has achieved tertiary education. Furthermore, household heads with higher levels of education compared to those with less education more frequently said that their economic situation had improved in the last ten years

Botswana's Development: Its Economic Structure and Rural Poverty

Botswana was among the highest growing economies in the world during 1985-2005 and achieved a reduction in its overall incidence of poverty from 60 per cent in 1985/86 to 30 per cent in 2002/03. The incidence of rural poverty in Botswana decreased from 55 per cent in 1985/86 to 40 per cent in 1992/93, however, it increased to 45 per cent in 2002/03. The reversal of gains in rural poverty reduction has motivated this study. An analysis of Botswana’s overall economic performance, demographic changes and movements and policy responses contribute to the understanding of the occurrence of the incidence of rural poverty in Botswana. In conclusion, it is found that Botswana’s rural and non-rural economy might appear to be characterised by dualism using the economic input-output analysis, whereas in fact important economic linkages exist between these sectors because of government spending policy, private remittances, government transfers and rural development policy. Therefore, there is no economic dualism in Botswana, and the rural population benefits directly from Botswana’s sustained economic growth