Journal ArticleDOI
The Determinants of Rural Livelihood Diversification in Developing Countries
Abstract:
The diversity of rural livelihoods in low income developing countries is receiving increased attention in discussions about rural poverty reduction. This paper explores just one facet of livelihood diversity, namely the reasons for households to adopt multiple livelihood strategies. The distinction is made between diversification of necessity and diversification by choice. Six determinants of diversification are considered in the light of that distinction, and these are seasonality, risk, labour markets, credit markets, asset strategies, and coping strategies. The paper concludes that under the precarious conditions that characterise rural survival in many low income countries, diversification has positive attributes for livelihood security that outweigh negative connotations it may possess. Policy should facilitate rather than inhibit diversity. Diverse rural livelihoods are less vulnerable than undiversified ones.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Vulnerability: A generally applicable conceptual framework for climate change research
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a general applicable conceptual framework of vulnerability that combines a nomenclature of vulnerable situations and a terminology of vulnerability concepts based on the distinction of four fundamental groups of vulnerability factors.
BookDOI
Gender, Time Use, and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
C. Mark Blackden,Quentin Wodon +1 more
TL;DR: The authors examined the links between gender, time use, and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and presented a conceptual framework linking both market and household work, and used tools and approaches drawn from analysis of consumption-based poverty to develop the concept of a time poverty line and examine linkages between time poverty, consumption poverty, and other dimensions of development in Africa such as education and child labor.
Journal ArticleDOI
Determinants of income diversification amongst rural households in Southern Mali
Awudu Abdulai,Anna Crole-Rees +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a conditional fixed effects logit model is employed in the analysis to control for household-specific effects, finding that poorer households have fewer opportunities in non-cropping activities such as livestock rearing and non-farm work, and hence less diversified incomes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of Non-Farm Employment on Rural Income Inequality in Developing Countries: an Investment Perspective
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make several points based on a review of household survey evidence from Africa, Asia and Latin America and conclude that the evidence is very mixed as to the effect of non-farm employment on rural income inequality.
Journal ArticleDOI
Chronic Poverty: Meanings and Analytical Frameworks
TL;DR: This article provided an overview of the meaning of chronic poverty and identified frameworks for analysing it, as understood by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) during the initial stages of research.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Household strategies and rural livelihood diversification
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the recent literature on diversification as a livelihood strategy of rural households in developing countries, with particular reference to sub-Saharan Africa, and concluded that removal of constraints to, and expansion of opportunities for, diversification are desirable policy objectives because they give individuals and households more capabilities to improve livelihood security and to raise living standards.
Journal ArticleDOI
The asset vulnerability framework: Reassessing urban poverty reduction strategies
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defined the assets of the urban poor in terms of an "asset vulnerability framework" and showed that the poor are managers of complex asset portfolios, and illustrate how asset management affects household poverty and vulnerability.
Journal ArticleDOI
Income Smoothing and Consumption Smoothing
TL;DR: The authors studied the relationship between risk-averse households and credit and insurance in low-income economies and found that risk-avoiding households tend to limit exposure only to shocks that can be handled with available credit The authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Editorial Introduction: Vulnerability, Coping and Policy
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that vulnerability, more than poverty, is linked with net assets, and that the tradeoffs between poverty and vulnerability are not, one for one, the same as programmes and policies to reduce poverty to raise incomes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Using Evidence of Household Income Diversification to Inform Study of the Rural Nonfarm Labor Market in Africa
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of evidence provides some surprising departures from traditional images of non-farm activities of rural households, and the most worrying finding was the poor distribution of nonfarm earnings in rural areas, despite the importance of these earnings to food security and farm investments.