Analysis of poverty and its covariates among smallholder farmers in the eastern Hararghe highlands of Ethiopia

This paper analyses the extent and determinants of rural household poverty in the eastern highlands of Ethiopia. We study 216 households using a household consumption expenditure approach. We are particularly interested in the effects of location-specific and institutional factors (networks) in determining the probability of being poor. Our findings suggest that poverty is location-specific, depends on access to irrigated land (not land per se) and access to non-farm income. Results also indicate that household wellbeing is negatively affected by household size, and positively affected by age of household head. Involvement in governance, social and production related networks is also found to be strongly associated with the probability of a household be poor.