Determinants of Household Choice of Livelihood Diversification Strategies in Selected Drought Prone Areas of the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’ Region, Ethiopia

The study aimed at identifying the determinants of household’s choice of livelihood diversification strategies. The result of the study based on a total of 384 sample respondents selected using multistage sampling procedures. Furthermore the study employed bivariate Probit econometric model to identify factors affecting household’s choice of livelihood diversification strategies. The result of the descriptive statistics showed that households in the study area were engaged in four types of combination of livelihood diversification strategies: on-farm only, on-farm plus off-farm, on-farm plus non-farm, and on-farm plus off-farm plus non-farm with their respective share of 34.9, 11.5, 47.9 and 5.7 percent respectively. The econometric model result showed that wealth, sex, education level, livestok holding, and training were negatively and significantly determined households choice of off-farm livelihood strategies;whereas past erosion hazard and distance to market were positively and significantly determined their choice of off-farm livelihood strategies. On the other hand, wealth, dependency ratio, past erosion hazard, market availability, yield loss/reduction due to drought, distance to credit source, distance to market, frequency of extension contact, and ICT ownership (Radio, TV and/or Mobile phone) positively determine household’s choice of non-farm livelihood strategies whereas access to irrigation and distance to credit negatively determined their choice of non-farm livelihood strategies.

Determinants for adoption of physical soil and water conservation measures by smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

Adoption rates of soil and water conservation measures remain below the expected levels in Ethiopia despite the considerable investments in reducing land degradation and improving soil fertility.This constitutes one of the key research agendas in the country.This paper underscores the need for investigating the factors hindering or facilitating the adoption of soil and water conservation measures.The study results presented in this paper are based on cross-section data collected from 408 households in eastern Ethiopia,including field observations of 790 plots selected using a multi-stage sampling procedure.A multivariate probit model was employed to analyse the determinants of adoption of three soil and water conservation measures (stone bund,soil bund,and bench terracing) at the plot level.The study findings reveal that household,socioeconomic,and institution characteristics were the key factors that influenced the adoption of soil bund,stone bund,and bench terracing conservation measures.Furthermore,there was a significant correlation among the three soil and water conservation measures,indicating that the adoption of these measures is interrelated.In particular,the results show that there was a positive correlation between stone bunds and soil bunds.However,the correlations between bench terracing and stone bunds as well as bench terracing and soil bunds were negative (implying substitutability).These results imply that the Government and other relevant organizations that are responsible for reducing land degradation in order to increase agricultural production should support the establishment and strengthening of local institutions to facilitate the adoption of soil and water conservation measures.