Determinants of farm livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Yayu biosphere reserve, SW Ethiopia: a gender disaggregated analysis

Improving food security has remained to be one of the major challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa, where Ethiopia is not an exception. As a result of poor productivity of the farming sector, smallholder farmers in Ethiopia have been strained to have a precarious livelihood. This study aims at analyzing the determinants of farm livelihood of smallholder farmers particularly in the context of Yayu biosphere reserve, where farmers are legally prohibited from expanding farmland and wild animals often intrude into the farmers’ field. A household survey was conducted to collect gender disaggregated data from 334 smallholder farmers supported by focus group discussions and key informant interviews. T-test mean comparison was made to compare socio-economic and household characteristics between male and female-headed households. Tobit regression analysis was also employed to capture the probability and extent of determinant variables in predicting the engagement of households in farm livelihoods. The result shows that augmented production factors, particularly farm physical capital and land along with access to credit, yield enhancing inputs and local labor support systems were found to significantly increase the intensity of engagement in farming both in male and female-headed households. Encroachment of wild animals to the farmers’ field brought insignificant effects on farm livelihoods. However, it brought additional burdens on farmers as they are expected to patrol their fields regularly. The findings implied that farm livelihood is highly dependent on ownership and efficient use of scarce production factors. These call for sustainable and integrated approaches to improve the future productivity of smallholder agriculture in Ethiopia.