Impact of Non-farm Activities on Wellbeing of Rural Household, the Case of Kersa District, Eastern Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study evaluated impact of non-farm activities on wellbeing of rural household using cross-sectional data.Household's consumption expenditure per adult equivalent was analyzed to measure household wellbeing. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select sample households from three Kebeles. Both primary and secondary data were used. Data were collected primarily through Semi-structured survey questionnaire from 178 households. Descriptive statistics and propensity score matching model were used to analyze the data. Propensity score matching (PSM) technique of impact evaluation preferred to overcome counterfactual problem and selection bias. Analysis results show that non-farm activities have increased consumption expenditure per adult equivalent ranging from 29.1% to 36.7% for participant households. In conclusion, participant households were more likely to be wellbeing as compared to the non-participant households. The result from the logistic estimator also revealed that participation in non-farm activities was significantly associated with variables such as age, education, adult equivalent size, cultivable land size, farm experience, and distance from main road, tropical livestock unit and access to nonfarm training. Therefore, such rural development planners and other stakeholders should consider the roles of these variables within the selection of participants for desired impact on economic wellbeing.

Determinants of Women heads non-farm participation in Western Ethiopia; Empirical Evidence in Horo Guduru Wollega zone

“…When transfer payments are made to women rather than their husbands, spending on children rises. Higher education spending boosts human capital accumulation, which leads to economic growth (Abdurezak and Adinan 2020).…”

Livelihood Diversification Strategies and Livelihood Outcome of Rural Household in Ethiopia: A Reviewed Paper

“…Push factors consist of risk reduction, diminishing returns in land and labour or coping with inefficiency, seasonality, compensating for failures in credit markets or liquidity constraint incomplete or weak financial system, constraints in labor and land markets, lack of support to agricultural prices, Population pressure and climatic uncertainties source, where as pull factors comprise gradual transition to new activities, building on complement arise between activities for instance crop livestock integration, comparative advantage based on the existence of skills, resources and technologies, commercial agriculture, location [20] Various studies revealed that rural households' participation in livelihood diversification activities exerts a pronounced impact on rural development, agricultural productivity, labor productivity, employment, income, food security, sustainable land management and living standard. [38] Used propensity score matching approach to examine the impact of non-farm work on wellbeing of rural household in eastern hararghe, Ethiopia; they revealed that non-farm activity has a positive impact on wellbeing of the households. Similarly, [37] also used propensity score matching approach to examine the impact of non-farm enterprise diversification on households' wellbeing in Ethiopia.…”

“…It as well enhances their production and productivity of farming output [28,29]. Moreover, diversified livelihood strategies enhance food security and poverty reduction in Ethiopia [15,30,31,32,33,34,35,36] and attain wellbeing among the rural households [37,38]. In view of that, the participation rate of rural household in off farm income generating activities has been escalating which was 55% in 2004 and reached 75% in 2008 in Ethiopia [24].…”

Determinants of Rural Households’ Non-farm Participation in West Ethiopia; Empirical evidence from Horo Guduru Wollega Zone

“…Despite the problems listed by the researchers, the benefits of non-farm employment on household consumption have been described by few researchers. Namely, that the development of various non-farm activities has potential in increasing employment opportunities and stimulating rural economic growth Deaton,(2011), with non-farm income accounting for 35-50 per cent of rural household income and 33 per cent of the global rural labor force Ermias,(2019), and increase food production and agricultural income Abera et al, (2021), reduce the income gap between farmer and non-farmer households Abdurezak and Adinan,(2020), food security and it ensures poverty alleviation Adeoye et al,(2019), eases liquidity shortages and procures inputs for agriculture (Asfaw, 2022).…”