IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v9y2020i8p267-d397038.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Diversification of Livestock-Keeping Smallholders in Mountainous Rural Regions of Azerbaijan and Georgia

Author

Listed:
  • Regina Neudert

    (Faculty of Law and Economics and Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Greifswald University, 17489 Greifswald, Germany)

  • Naiba Allahverdiyeva

    (Department of Farm Management, University of Kassel, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany
    Department of Finance and Economic Theory, Azerbaijan State Agricultural University, 2000 Ganja, Azerbaijan)

  • Niyaz Mammadov

    (Department of Finance and Economic Theory, Azerbaijan State Agricultural University, 2000 Ganja, Azerbaijan)

  • Alexandre Didebulidze

    (Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, Agricultural University of Georgia, 0159 Tbilisi, Georgia)

  • Volker Beckmann

    (Faculty of Law and Economics and Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Greifswald University, 17489 Greifswald, Germany)

Abstract

Diversified livelihoods combining farming, livestock keeping and non-farm income are characteristic of many rural households worldwide. For the Central Asian and Caucasian region, livestock keeping is especially important in terms of land use and socio-cultural heritage. We contribute to the literature with data from the under-researched Caucasus region and investigate: (i) the extent of diversification in smallholder households; (ii) the role of livestock keeping in diversification; (iii) the influence of household-specific and location-specific variables and diversification on household income. Based on a dataset of 303 households, we calculate contribution margins for the main agricultural activities, household income, and diversification indices and analyze the influence of diversification, asset and location variables on household income with a regression model. Household income is generally diversified and a combination of four income sources (crops, livestock, poultry/bees and social benefits) was the most frequent. The econometric analysis shows that higher household incomes are positively correlated with higher household land and livestock assets, the presence of non-farm work and social benefit income sources and with an increasing specialization as measured by the diversification index. For enhancing rural household incomes and slowing down rural-urban migration, the development of non-farm job opportunities is recommended.

Suggested Citation

  • Regina Neudert & Naiba Allahverdiyeva & Niyaz Mammadov & Alexandre Didebulidze & Volker Beckmann, 2020. "Diversification of Livestock-Keeping Smallholders in Mountainous Rural Regions of Azerbaijan and Georgia," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:8:p:267-:d:397038
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/8/267/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/8/267/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kamanga, Penjani & Vedeld, Paul & Sjaastad, Espen, 2009. "Forest incomes and rural livelihoods in Chiradzulu District, Malawi," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 613-624, January.
    2. Dougherty, Christopher, 2016. "Introduction to Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 5, number 9780199676828.
    3. Elchin Suleymanov & Farhad Rahmanov & Anar Eminov, 2017. "The Impact of the Oil Price Fluctuations on the Agrarian Policy in Azerbaijan," Academic Journal of Economic Studies, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 3(2), pages 88-96, June.
    4. Wang, Cong & Fuyuki, Katsuhito, 2020. "Determinants of Livelihood Diversification Strategies in Rural China: A Comparative Analysis," Japanese Journal of Agricultural Economics (formerly Japanese Journal of Rural Economics), Agricultural Economics Society of Japan (AESJ), vol. 22.
    5. Cristina Salvioni & Roberto Henke & Francesco Vanni, 2020. "The Impact of Non-Agricultural Diversification on Financial Performance: Evidence from Family Farms in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-14, January.
    6. Yunez-Naude, Antonio & Edward Taylor, J., 2001. "The Determinants of Nonfarm Activities and Incomes of Rural Households in Mexico, with Emphasis on Education," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 561-572, March.
    7. Dirk Bezemer & Kelvin Balcombe & Junior Davis & Iain Fraser, 2005. "Livelihoods and farm efficiency in rural Georgia," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(15), pages 1737-1745.
    8. Bobojonov, Ihtiyor & Aw-Hassan, Aden, 2014. "Impacts of climate change on farm income security in Central Asia: An integrated modeling approach," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 188, pages 245-255.
    9. Abdulai, Awudu & CroleRees, Anna, 2001. "Determinants of income diversification amongst rural households in Southern Mali," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 437-452, August.
    10. Tesfaye, Yemiru & Roos, Anders & Campbell, Bruce M. & Bohlin, Folke, 2011. "Livelihood strategies and the role of forest income in participatory-managed forests of Dodola area in the bale highlands, southern Ethiopia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 258-265, April.
    11. repec:adb:adbadr:590 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Lerman, Zvi & Sedik, David, 2014. "Cooperatives in CIS and Georgia: Overview of legislation," Discussion Papers 290024, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    13. Kemkes, Robin J., 2015. "The role of natural capital in sustaining livelihoods in remote mountainous regions: The case of Upper Svaneti, Republic of Georgia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 22-31.
    14. Minjie Chen & Bruno Wichmann & Marty Luckert & Leigh Winowiecki & Wiebke Förch & Peter Läderach, 2018. "Diversification and intensification of agricultural adaptation from global to local scales," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-27, May.
    15. Babulo, Bedru & Muys, Bart & Nega, Fredu & Tollens, Eric & Nyssen, Jan & Deckers, Jozef & Mathijs, Erik, 2008. "Household livelihood strategies and forest dependence in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 147-155, September.
    16. Frank Ellis, 1998. "Household strategies and rural livelihood diversification," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 1-38.
    17. Nicolas Ahouissoussi & James E. Neumann & Jitendra P. Srivastava, 2014. "Building Resilience to Climate Change in South Caucasus Agriculture," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18033, December.
    18. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    19. Emil Erjavec & Tina Volk & Ilona Rac & Maja Kožar & Marjeta Pintar & Miro Rednak, 2017. "Agricultural support in selected Eastern European and Eurasian countries," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 216-231, April.
    20. Chuan Liao & Christopher Barrett & Karim-Aly Kassam, 2015. "Does Diversification Improve Livelihoods? Pastoral Households in Xinjiang, China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(6), pages 1302-1330, November.
    21. Jianmei Zhao & Peter J. Barry, 2014. "Income Diversification of Rural Households in China," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 62(3), pages 307-324, September.
    22. Atamanov, Aziz & Van den Berg, Marrit, 2012. "Heterogeneous Effects of International Migration and Remittances on Crop Income: Evidence from the Kyrgyz Republic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 620-630.
    23. Arne Bigsten & Sven Tengstam, 2011. "Smallholder Diversification and Income Growth in Zambia," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 20(5), pages 781-822, November.
    24. Csaki, Csaba & Lerman, Zvi, 1994. "Land Reform and Farm Sector Restructuring in the Former Socialist Countries in Europe," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 21(3-4), pages 553-576.
    25. Raza Ullah & Ganesh P. Shivakoti & Farhad Zulfiqar & Muhammad Nadeem Iqbal & Ashfaq Ahmad Shah, 2017. "Disaster risk management in agriculture: tragedies of the smallholders," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 87(3), pages 1361-1375, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Salem Ahmed Alabdali & Salvatore Flavio Pileggi & Dilek Cetindamar, 2023. "Influential Factors, Enablers, and Barriers to Adopting Smart Technology in Rural Regions: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-38, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xuhuan Dai & Zhilong Wu & Yao Fan & Bo Li & Zihan Yang & Bo Nan & Xu Bi, 2019. "Characteristics and Determinants of Livelihood Diversification of Different Household Types in Far Northwestern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Mark Musumba & Cheryl A. Palm & Adam M. Komarek & Patrick K. Mutuo & Bocary Kaya, 2022. "Household livelihood diversification in rural Africa," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(2), pages 246-256, March.
    3. Mohammad Shamsul Hoq & Md. Taj Uddin & Shankar Kumar Raha & Mohammad Ismail Hossain, 2022. "Determinants of households’ livelihood diversification strategies to adapt to natural hazards: evidence from ecologically vulnerable haor region of Bangladesh," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 114(3), pages 3255-3291, December.
    4. Asfaw, Solomon & Scognamillo, Antonio & Caprera, Gloria Di & Sitko, Nicholas & Ignaciuk, Adriana, 2019. "Heterogeneous impact of livelihood diversification on household welfare: Cross-country evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 278-295.
    5. Chuan Liao & Christopher Barrett & Karim-Aly Kassam, 2015. "Does Diversification Improve Livelihoods? Pastoral Households in Xinjiang, China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(6), pages 1302-1330, November.
    6. Helmy, Imane, 2020. "Livelihood Diversification Strategies: Resisting Vulnerability in Egypt," GLO Discussion Paper Series 441, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Longjunjiang Huang & Cong Liao & Xuan Guo & Yanlin Liu & Xiaojin Liu, 2023. "Analysis of the Impact of Livelihood Capital on Livelihood Strategies of Leased-In Farmland Households: A Case Study of Jiangxi Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-29, June.
    8. Yang Liu & Qing Zhang & Qingfu Liu & Yongzhi Yan & Wanxin Hei & Deyong Yu & Jianguo Wu, 2020. "Different Household Livelihood Strategies and Influencing Factors in the Inner Mongolian Grassland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, January.
    9. Shanta Paudel Khatiwada & Wei Deng & Bikash Paudel & Janak Raj Khatiwada & Jifei Zhang & Yi Su, 2017. "Household Livelihood Strategies and Implication for Poverty Reduction in Rural Areas of Central Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-20, April.
    10. Harun M. Kiruki & Emma H. Zanden & Patrick Kariuki & Peter H. Verburg, 2020. "The contribution of charcoal production to rural livelihoods in a semi-arid area in Kenya," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 6931-6960, October.
    11. Soltani, Arezoo & Angelsen, Arild & Eid, Tron & Naieni, Mohammad Saeid Noori & Shamekhi, Taghi, 2012. "Poverty, sustainability, and household livelihood strategies in Zagros, Iran," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 60-70.
    12. Josephson, Anna Leigh & Michler, Jeffrey D., 2015. "To Specialize or Diversify: Agricultural Diversity and Poverty Persistence in Ethiopia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212459, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Vellema, W. & Buritica Casanova, A. & Gonzalez, C. & D’Haese, M., 2015. "The effect of specialty coffee certification on household livelihood strategies and specialisation," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 13-25.
    14. Mulwa, Chalmers K. & Visser, Martine, 2020. "Farm diversification as an adaptation strategy to climatic shocks and implications for food security in northern Namibia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    15. repec:dgr:rugcds:cds-27 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Weiyong YANG, 2003. "Reforms, agricultural risks and agro-industrial diversification in rural China: Evidence from Chinese Provinces," Working Papers 200318, CERDI.
    17. Cotta, Jamie N., 2015. "Contributions of local floodplain resources to livelihoods and household income in the Peruvian Amazon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 35-46.
    18. Koirala, Krishna H. & Mishra, Ashok K. & Mehlhorn, Joey, 2014. "Using Copula to Test Dependency between Energy and Agricultural Commodities," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170364, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Govinda P. Sharma & Ram Pandit & Ben White & Maksym Polyakov, 2020. "The income diversification strategies of smallholders in the hills of Nepal," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(6), pages 804-825, November.
    20. Kilian Nasung Atuoye & Roger Antabe & Yujiro Sano & Isaac Luginaah & Jason Bayne, 2019. "Household Income Diversification and Food Insecurity in the Upper West Region of Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 899-920, July.
    21. Jang-Hwan Jo & Taewoo Roh & Seunguk Shin & Yeo-Chang Youn, 2019. "Sustainable Assets and Strategies Affecting the Forestry Household Income: Empirical Evidence from South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-16, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:8:p:267-:d:397038. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.