Rural Poverty in Botswana: A Gendered Analysis

We model the determinants of rural poverty in Botswana by conducting an empirical analysis of household welfare using the 2009/10 Botswana Core Welfare Indicator survey (BCWIS) to identify such factors associated with rural poverty. The paper found that female headed households, especially those residing in rural areas have higher incidences of poverty than male headed households. The study also found gender (male), education, employment, livestock ownership and access to amenities as factors that positively related with welfare for all rural households and the results were consistent across both FHHs and MHHs models, except for a few factors such as livestock ownership. Household size and dependency ratios negatively related with welfare. However, dependency ratio did not influence welfare amongst MHHs since such households are characterised by fewer dependents unlike the FHHs. Creation of employment opportunities in rural areas is key in helping the government in its poverty eradication efforts in rural areas. The paper also concludes that FHHs in rural areas must be made a special target of poverty eradication programmes, and a well focused gender specific intervention for poverty eradication initiatives is needed. Moreover, rural development strategies should emphasize the provision of agricultural infrastructure, promotion of agricultural productivity growth through improved technology adoption, as well as provision of basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity in rural areas.