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Diversification and livelihood sustainability in a semi-arid environment: A case study from southern Ethiopia

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Author Info
Wassie Berhanu
David Colman
Bichaka Fayissa

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Abstract

This paper examines the recently growing adoption of non-pastoral livelihood strategies among the Borana pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. A large portion of the current non-pastoral participation is in petty and natural resource-based activities. Pastoral and crop production functions are estimated using the Cobb-Douglas model to analyse the economic rationale behind the growing pastoralist shift to cultivation and other non-pastoral activities. The low marginal return to labour in traditional pastoralism suggests the existence of surplus labour that can gainfully be transferred to non-pastoral activities. An examination of the pastoralist activity choices reveals that the younger households with literacy and more exposure to the exchange system display a more diversified income portfolio preference. The findings underscore the importance of human capital investment and related support services for improving the pastoralist capacity to manage risk through welfare-enhancing diversified income portfolio adoption.

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File URL: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&doi=10.1080/00220380701384554&magic=repec&7C&7C8674ECAB8BB840C6AD35DC6213A474B5
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Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal Journal of Development Studies.

Volume (Year): 43 (2007)
Issue (Month): 5 ()
Pages: 871-889
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Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:43:y:2007:i:5:p:871-889

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  1. Block, S. & Webb, P., 2001. "The dynamics of livelihood diversification in post-famine Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 333-350, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Greene, William H., 1980. "On the estimation of a flexible frontier production model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 101-115, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Jacoby, Hanan G, 1993. "Shadow Wages and Peasant Family Labour Supply: An Econometric Application to the Peruvian Sierra," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 60(4), pages 903-21, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Reardon, Thomas, 1997. "Using evidence of household income diversification to inform study of the rural nonfarm labor market in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 735-747, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Barrett, Christopher B. & Bezuneh, Mesfin & Aboud, Abdillahi, 2001. "Income diversification, poverty traps and policy shocks in Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 367-384, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Jacoby, Hanan G., 1991. "Productivity of men and women and the sexual division of labor in peasant agriculture of the Peruvian Sierra," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1-2), pages 265-287, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Reardon, Thomas & Berdegue, Julio & Escobar, German, 2001. "Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in Latin America: Overview and Policy Implications," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 395-409, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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