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Rural Farm Households’ Income Diversification: The Case of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Received: 6 April 2016     Accepted: 3 June 2016     Published: 26 April 2017
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Abstract

Despite the economic dominance of agriculture in the study area, farm households widely practice diverse income generating activities as livelihood strategies to overcome diverse challenges and risks. The existing capacity of agriculture to attain food and livelihood security is tremendously declining from time to time. The main aim of this study was to identify the determinants of farmers' participation in income diversification in the study area. The study involved primary data which were collected from randomly selected 300 households in four districts of the zone. For selection of study units probability proportional to the size was applied and respondents were selected through systematic sampling technique. In addition, key informant interview and focus group discussion were used to supplement the survey with qualitative information. Secondary data were also collected from various relevant sources. Descriptive statistics were applied to characterize the sample households’ social, economic, demographic and institutional factors. The findings of the study indicates that rural households in the study area practice diversified income sources, in that about 57.7% of the households combine agriculture with other activities (non/off-farm). Some farmers were pursuing non-farm and off-farm activities as the primary income sources rather than agriculture. Considering the wealth status, the poor households derive almost half (50%) of their income from non-agricultural activities whereas the latter accounts for only 6.4% of the income of the better-off households’. Binary logit model was applied to investigate factors influencing the households’ participation in income diversification. In this regard, out of total explanatory variables included in the model, 8 were significant. The results confirm that factors such as sex, farm size, livestock ownership, oxen ownership, education, leadership, annual cash income and market distance were key determinants of farmers’ participation in income diversification. Further, the study identifies income diversification as a cumulative effects of several factors, and therefore urges policy makers to give due attention to them with a view to overcoming the challenging bottlenecks.

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20170602.12
Page(s) 45-56
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Income Diversification, Rural Households, Binary Logit Model, Wolaita, Ethiopia

References
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    Yishak Gecho. (2017). Rural Farm Households’ Income Diversification: The Case of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Social Sciences, 6(2), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20170602.12

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    Yishak Gecho. Rural Farm Households’ Income Diversification: The Case of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Soc. Sci. 2017, 6(2), 45-56. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20170602.12

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    Yishak Gecho. Rural Farm Households’ Income Diversification: The Case of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Soc Sci. 2017;6(2):45-56. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20170602.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20170602.12,
      author = {Yishak Gecho},
      title = {Rural Farm Households’ Income Diversification: The Case of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {45-56},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20170602.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20170602.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20170602.12},
      abstract = {Despite the economic dominance of agriculture in the study area, farm households widely practice diverse income generating activities as livelihood strategies to overcome diverse challenges and risks. The existing capacity of agriculture to attain food and livelihood security is tremendously declining from time to time. The main aim of this study was to identify the determinants of farmers' participation in income diversification in the study area. The study involved primary data which were collected from randomly selected 300 households in four districts of the zone. For selection of study units probability proportional to the size was applied and respondents were selected through systematic sampling technique. In addition, key informant interview and focus group discussion were used to supplement the survey with qualitative information. Secondary data were also collected from various relevant sources. Descriptive statistics were applied to characterize the sample households’ social, economic, demographic and institutional factors. The findings of the study indicates that rural households in the study area practice diversified income sources, in that about 57.7% of the households combine agriculture with other activities (non/off-farm). Some farmers were pursuing non-farm and off-farm activities as the primary income sources rather than agriculture. Considering the wealth status, the poor households derive almost half (50%) of their income from non-agricultural activities whereas the latter accounts for only 6.4% of the income of the better-off households’. Binary logit model was applied to investigate factors influencing the households’ participation in income diversification. In this regard, out of total explanatory variables included in the model, 8 were significant. The results confirm that factors such as sex, farm size, livestock ownership, oxen ownership, education, leadership, annual cash income and market distance were key determinants of farmers’ participation in income diversification. Further, the study identifies income diversification as a cumulative effects of several factors, and therefore urges policy makers to give due attention to them with a view to overcoming the challenging bottlenecks.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    T1  - Rural Farm Households’ Income Diversification: The Case of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia
    AU  - Yishak Gecho
    Y1  - 2017/04/26
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20170602.12
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    AB  - Despite the economic dominance of agriculture in the study area, farm households widely practice diverse income generating activities as livelihood strategies to overcome diverse challenges and risks. The existing capacity of agriculture to attain food and livelihood security is tremendously declining from time to time. The main aim of this study was to identify the determinants of farmers' participation in income diversification in the study area. The study involved primary data which were collected from randomly selected 300 households in four districts of the zone. For selection of study units probability proportional to the size was applied and respondents were selected through systematic sampling technique. In addition, key informant interview and focus group discussion were used to supplement the survey with qualitative information. Secondary data were also collected from various relevant sources. Descriptive statistics were applied to characterize the sample households’ social, economic, demographic and institutional factors. The findings of the study indicates that rural households in the study area practice diversified income sources, in that about 57.7% of the households combine agriculture with other activities (non/off-farm). Some farmers were pursuing non-farm and off-farm activities as the primary income sources rather than agriculture. Considering the wealth status, the poor households derive almost half (50%) of their income from non-agricultural activities whereas the latter accounts for only 6.4% of the income of the better-off households’. Binary logit model was applied to investigate factors influencing the households’ participation in income diversification. In this regard, out of total explanatory variables included in the model, 8 were significant. The results confirm that factors such as sex, farm size, livestock ownership, oxen ownership, education, leadership, annual cash income and market distance were key determinants of farmers’ participation in income diversification. Further, the study identifies income diversification as a cumulative effects of several factors, and therefore urges policy makers to give due attention to them with a view to overcoming the challenging bottlenecks.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Rural Development and Agricultural Extension Department, Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia

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