A Cross-Country Comparison of Rural Income Generating Activities

Davis, Benjamin; Winters, Paul; Carletto, Gero; Covarrubias, Katia; Quiñones, Esteban J.; Zezza, Alberto; Stamoulis, Kostas; Azzarri, Carlo; DiGiuseppe, Stefania

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.01.003

Cited by 284 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Rural households combine a diverse set of income generating and social activities and construct a portfolio of livelihood activities to meet and, if possible, to enhance better livelihood outcomes [1]. Almost two-thirds of the world's poor people reside in the rural areas of low-income countries, mainly depending on subsistence farming and other natural resources for their livelihood [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Household Livelihood Strategies and Implication for Poverty Reduction in Rural Areas of Central Nepal

Khatiwada

Deng

Paudel³

et al. 2017

Sustainability

121

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Abstract:Understanding household livelihood strategies is pivotal to minimize rural poverty in the least developed countries like Nepal. This study is an attempt to assess livelihood strategies pursued by rural households, investigate the most remunerative strategy, and identify the factors that influence a household's choice of better strategies in rural Nepal. Primary data collected in 453 households from three villages of central Nepal are analyzed quantitatively within a sustainable livelihood framework. This study categorized households into five main livelihood strategy groups. The results showed that the majority (61%) of the households diversified their income to non-farm sources. Livelihood diversification to business/enterprise strategies adopted by 16% of the households is the most remunerative strategy followed by commercial farming that includes 13% of the sample and are more relevant to poverty reduction. Land holding, education, agriculture and skill training, access to credit, and proximity to the road and market center are the major influencing factors on the adoption of higher returning livelihood strategies. Stimulating poor households to follow market-oriented farm and non-farm activities by improving access to education, vocational training, rural credit, and rural infrastructures is momentous for reducing poverty in the rural areas of central Nepal.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Household Livelihood Strategies and Implication for Poverty Reduction in Rural Areas of Central Nepal

Khatiwada

Deng

Paudel³

et al. 2017

Sustainability

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The ability of a livelihood system to respond to shocks through coping strategies is thus a key determinant of livelihood resilience and vulnerability, together with ex-ante risk mitigation (AdgerFafchamps andShilpi 2003, 2005;Deichmann et al 2008;Babatunde and Qaim 2009;Davis et al 2010;Losch et al 2011). The majority of empirical evidence on rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa suggest that pull factors dominate for income and labour diversification, so that wealth, education and access to densely populated areas are correlated with higher labour and income diversification, whereas poverty is correlated with higher crop diversification and lower income and labour diversification (Barrett et al 2001a;Lanjouw et al 2001;Babatunde and Qaim 2009;Dimova and Sen 2010;Asmah 2011).…”

Section: Livelihood Diversification and Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversification as Part of a CSA Strategy: The Cases of Zambia and Malawi

Arslan

Asfaw

Cavatassi

et al. 2017

Climate Smart Agriculture

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Climate variability, associated with farm-income variability, is recognized as one of the main drivers of livelihood diversification strategies in developing countries. In this chapter, we present a synthesis of two comprehensive studies from Zambia and Malawi on the drivers of diversification and its impacts on selected welfare outcomes with a specific attention to climatic variables and institutions. We use geo-referenced farm-household-level data merged with data on historical rainfall and temperature as well as with administrative data on relevant institutions. The two case studies demonstrate that diversification is clearly an adaptation response, as long term trends in climatic shocks have a significant effect on livelihood diversification, albeit with different implications. Whereas the long term variation in growing period rainfall is associated with increased crop, labour and income diversification in Malawi, it is only associated with increased livestock diversification in Zambia. With regard to institutions, we find that access to extension agents positively and significantly correlates with crop diversification in both countries, underlining the role of extension in promoting more resilient farming systems in rural Zambia and Malawi. Fertilizer subsidies are among the most important agricultural policies in both countries, where they significantly affect incentives for income diversification -though in opposing ways -providing important policy implications. The two case studies document distinct ways in which incentives for livelihood diversification (measured along different dimensions) are shaped by increased variability in rainfall and rural institutions. The results also demonstrate that diversification can be an effective adaptation response and the risk-return trade-offs are not as pronounced as might be expected.

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“…(Davis et al, 2009 ;Rigg, 2006 ;Haggblade et al, 2010 ;Dethier, Effenberger, 2011). Dans les zones rurales, les revenus hors exploitation représentent souvent plus de la moitié des revenus totaux.…”

Section: Quels Espaces Pour Les Nouvelles Formes D'agricultures D'entunclassified