IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v37y2005i15p1737-1745.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Livelihoods and farm efficiency in rural Georgia

Author

Listed:
  • Dirk Bezemer
  • Kelvin Balcombe
  • Junior Davis
  • Iain Fraser

Abstract

This study contributes to the literature on the role of livelihood strategies in rural growth and poverty reduction. It distinguishes between livelihood diversity strategies that contribute to sustainable growth in household incomes, and those that mainly have a 'coping' function. It suggests that typically, the contribution of livelihood diversity to growing household income is through relaxing dependence on credit for access to capital. In this scenario, livelihood diversity would lead to higher technical efficiency in agriculture via investment and thereby to higher household incomes. Survey data from Georgia are introduced and used to test these hypotheses using a Bayesian stochastic frontier approach. The findings are relevant to defining more clearly the scope and aims of policies to stimulate the rural non-farm economy in developing and transition countries.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:37:y:2005:i:15:p:1737-1745
    DOI: 10.1080/00036840500215253
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00036840500215253
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036840500215253?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew N. Kleit & Dek Terrell, 2001. "Measuring Potential Efficiency Gains From Deregulation Of Electricity Generation: A Bayesian Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 523-530, August.
    2. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    3. O'Donnell, Christopher J. & Coelli, Timothy J., 2005. "A Bayesian approach to imposing curvature on distance functions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 493-523, June.
    4. Tim Coelli & Sanzidur Rahman & Colin Thirtle, 2002. "Technical, Allocative, Cost and Scale Efficiencies in Bangladesh Rice Cultivation: A Non‐parametric Approach," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 607-626, November.
    5. 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.
    6. Lanjouw, Jean O. & Lanjouw, Peter, 1995. "Rural nonfarm employment : a survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1463, The World Bank.
    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. Mutenje, Munyaradzi & Kankwamba, Henry & Mangisonib, Julius & Kassie, Menale, 2016. "Agricultural innovations and food security in Malawi: Gender dynamics, institutions and market implications," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 240-248.
    2. Hien Thu Pham & Nhan Buu Phan & Shino Takayama, 2020. "Productivity, Efficiency and Firm Size Distribution: Evidence from Vietnam," Discussion Papers Series 617, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    3. Mulugeta Y. Birhanu & Tesfahun Alemayehu & Jasmine E. Bruno & Fasil Getachew Kebede & Emmanuel Babafunso Sonaiya & Ezekiel H. Goromela & Oladeji Bamidele & Tadelle Dessie, 2021. "Technical Efficiency of Traditional Village Chicken Production in Africa: Entry Points for Sustainable Transformation and Improved Livelihood," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Hoang, Trung X. & Pham, Cong S. & Ulubaşoğlu, Mehmet A., 2014. "Non-Farm Activity, Household Expenditure, and Poverty Reduction in Rural Vietnam: 2002–2008," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 554-568.
    6. Maya Grigolia & Lasha Labadze & Pavol Minarik & Alena Zemplinerova & Marek Vokoun, 2015. "Transfer of Know-how for SMEs in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. White Paper: Georgia," CASE Network Reports 0123, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.

    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. Fraser, Iain & Davis, Junior & Balcombe, Kelvin & Bezemer, Dirk, 2005. "Is Rural Income Diversity Pro-Growth? Is It Pro-Poor? Evidence from Georgia," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Kiel 2005 4, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    2. Kelvin_Balcombe & Dirk_Bezemer & Junior_Davis & Iain_Fraser, 2005. "Livelihoods and Farm Efficiency in Rural Georgia," Development and Comp Systems 0502005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    4. Tai-Hsin Huang & Yi-Huang Chiu & Chih-Ying Mao, 2021. "Imposing Regularity Conditions to Measure Banks’ Productivity Changes in Taiwan Using a Stochastic Approach," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 28(2), pages 273-303, June.
    5. Ellis, Frank & Bahiigwa, Godfrey, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 997-1013, June.
    6. Maria Mwaipopo Fibaek, 2021. "Working Poor? A Study of Rural Workers' Economic Welfare in Kenya," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 41-69, January.
    7. Wunder, Sven & Angelsen, Arild & Belcher, Brian, 2014. "Forests, Livelihoods, and Conservation: Broadening the Empirical Base," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 1-11.
    8. 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.
    9. Zezza, Alberto & Carletto, Gero & Davis, Benjamin & Stamoulis, Kostas & Winters, Paul, 2009. "Rural Income Generating Activities: Whatever Happened to the Institutional Vacuum? Evidence from Ghana, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 1297-1306, July.
    10. 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.
    11. Wang, Ying & Bilsborrow, Richard E. & Zhang, Qi & Li, Jiangfeng & Song, Conghe, 2019. "Effects of payment for ecosystem services and agricultural subsidy programs on rural household land use decisions in China: Synergy or trade-off?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 785-801.
    12. Quang Tran, Tuyen, 2012. "A review on the link between nonfarm activities, land and rural livelihoods in Vietnam and developing countries," MPRA Paper 55850, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 17 Nov 2013.
    13. Nazish KANWAL & Muhammad Ammad KHAN & Zhihao ZHENG, 2016. "Analyzing the determinants of non-farm income diversification of farm households in Peshawar district of Pakistan," Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business, West University of Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 9(1), pages 33-48, June.
    14. Hänke, Hendrik & Barkmann, Jan, 2017. "Insurance Function of Livestock: Farmer’s Coping Capacity with Regional Droughts in South-Western Madagascar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 264-275.
    15. Bhaumik, Sumon K. & Dimova, Ralitza & Nugent, Jeffrey B., 2006. "Pulls, Pushes and Entitlement Failures in Labor Markets: Does the State of Development Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 2258, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Asfaw, Solomon & McCarthy, Nancy & Paolantonio, Adriana & Cavatassi, Romina & Amare, Mulubrhan & Lipper, Leslie, 2015. "Diversification, Climate Risk and Vulnerability to Poverty: Evidence from Rural Malawi," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 230216, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Fred Mawunyo Dzanku, 2018. "Rational But Poor? An Explanation for Rural Economic Livelihood Strategy," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(2), pages 365-381, June.
    18. 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.
    19. Campbell, J. & Whittingham, E. & Townsley, P., 2006. "Responding to coastal poverty: should we be doing things differently or doing different things?," IWMI Books, Reports H039122, International Water Management Institute.
    20. Christiaensen, Luc & Todo, Yasuyuki, 2014. "Poverty Reduction During the Rural–Urban Transformation – The Role of the Missing Middle," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 43-58.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:applec:v:37:y:2005:i:15:p:1737-1745. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.