Livelihood strategies in the rural Kenyan highlands.
TLDR
This paper used cluster analysis methods to operationalize the concept of livelihood strategies in household data and then uses the resulting strategy-specific income distributions to test whether the hypothesized outcome differences between livelihoods indeed exist.Abstract:
The concept of a livelihood strategy has become central to development practice in recent years. Nonetheless, precise identification of livelihoods in quantitative data has remained methodologically elusive. This paper uses cluster analysis methods to operationalize the concept of livelihood strategies in household data and then uses the resulting strategy-specific income distributions to test whether the hypothesized outcome differences between livelihoods indeed exist. Using data from Kenya’s central and western highlands, we identify five distinct livelihood strategies that exhibit statistically significant differences in mean per capita incomes and stochastic dominance orderings that establish clear welfare rankings among livelihood strategies. Multinomial regression analysis identifies geographic, demographic and financial determinants of livelihood choice. The results should facilitate targeting of interventions designed to improve household livelihoods.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
The diversity of rural livelihoods and their influence on soil fertility in agricultural systems of East Africa - A typology of smallholder farms
Pablo Tittonell,Pablo Tittonell,Anne Muriuki,Keith D. Shepherd,Daniel N. Mugendi,K.C. Kaizzi,Jeremiah M. Okeyo,Louis V. Verchot,Richard Coe,Bernard Vanlauwe +9 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a categorisation of household diversity based on a functional typology of livelihood strategies, and analyzed the influence of such diversity on current soil fertility status and spatial variability on a sample of 250 randomly selected farms from six districts of Kenya and Uganda.
Journal ArticleDOI
Household livelihood strategies and forest dependence in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia
Bedru Babulo,Bedru Babulo,Bart Muys,Fredu Nega,Fredu Nega,Eric Tollens,Jan Nyssen,Jozef Deckers,Erik Mathijs +8 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the factors that condition a household's livelihood strategy choice with a particular focus on forest products and run multinomial logit regression on asset-based explanatory variables to identify the main factors that determine households' livelihood strategy choices and forest dependence.
Posted ContentDOI
Factors influencing the intensity of market participation by smallholder farmers: A case study of rural and peri-urban areas of Kenya
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined factors that influence the intensity of market participation among smallholder farmers in Kenya and found that farmers in peri-urban areas sold higher proportions of their output than those in rural areas.
Journal ArticleDOI
Rural livelihood diversification in Sub-Saharan Africa: A literature review
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive review of the literature on the nature and evolution of rural livelihood diversification in sub-Saharan Africa, and the situation regarding smallholders is provided, revealing mixed findings about the causes and consequences of livelihood diversifying on rural smallholders adopting this strategy.
Journal Article
Integrated Malaria Vector Control with Microbial Larvicides and Insecticide-Treated Nets in Western Kenya: A Controlled Trial/ Lutte Integree Contre Les Vecteurs Du Paludisme Au Moyen De Larvicides Microbiens et De Moustiquaires Impregnees D'insecticide Au Kenya Occidental : Essai Controle/ Lucha Antivectorial Integrada Contra la Malaria Mediante Larvicidas
TL;DR: Vector control with microbial larvicides enhanced the malaria control achieved with ITNs alone, and anti-larval measures are a promising complement to ITN distribution in the economically important highland areas and similar transmission settings in Africa.
References
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Book
Cluster Analysis
TL;DR: This fourth edition of the highly successful Cluster Analysis represents a thorough revision of the third edition and covers new and developing areas such as classification likelihood and neural networks for clustering.
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Household strategies and rural livelihood diversification
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the recent literature on diversification as a livelihood strategy of rural households in developing countries, with particular reference to sub-Saharan Africa, and concluded that removal of constraints to, and expansion of opportunities for, diversification are desirable policy objectives because they give individuals and households more capabilities to improve livelihood security and to raise living standards.
Journal ArticleDOI
Capitals and Capabilities: A Framework for Analyzing Peasant Viability, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty
TL;DR: In this article, the authors develop an analytical framework for analyzing rural livelihoods in terms of their sustainability and their implications for rural poverty, arguing that the analysis of rural livelihood needs to understand people's access to five types of capital asset and the ways in which they combine and transform those assets in the building of livelihoods that as far as possible meet their material and their experiential needs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a special issue on the topic of income diversification and livelihoods in rural Africa: Cause and Consequence of change, where the authors concentrate on core conceptual issues that bedevil the literature on rural income diversity and the policy implications of the empirical evidence presented in this special issue.