Livelihood strategies, capital assets, and food security in rural Southwest Ethiopia
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: Food Security, Jahrgang 11, Nr. 1, 15.02.2019, S. 167-181.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Livelihood strategies, capital assets, and food security in rural Southwest Ethiopia
AU - Manlosa, Aisa O.
AU - Hanspach, Jan
AU - Schultner, Jannik
AU - Dorresteijn, Ine
AU - Fischer, Jörn
N1 - Funding Information: Funding This research work received funding from the European Research Council under the EU’s 7th Framework Programme with project ID 614278. Publisher Copyright: © 2019, The Author(s).
PY - 2019/2/15
Y1 - 2019/2/15
N2 - Households combine capital assets in a process involving human agency and resourcefulness to construct livelihood strategies and generate well-being outcomes. Here, we (1) characterized types of livelihood strategies; (2) determined how different capital assets are associated with different livelihood strategies; and (3) determined how livelihood strategies differed in food security outcomes. We conducted a survey in southwestern Ethiopia and used principal component and cluster analyses. Five types of livelihood strategies, which differed mainly in food and cash crops comprising the strategy, were identified. These were, in order of decreasing food security: ‘three food crops, coffee and khat’, n = 68; ‘three food crops and khat’, n = 59; ‘two food crops, coffee and khat’, n = 78; ‘two food crops and khat’, n = 88; and ‘one food crop, coffee and khat’, n = 44. The livelihood strategy ‘three food crops, coffee and khat’ was associated with a wide range of capital assets, particularly having larger aggregate farm field size and learning from other farmers. A generalized linear model showed that livelihood strategies were significantly associated with food security outcomes. Particularly, a high number of food crops in a strategy was linked with relatively high food security. In this context, diversified livelihood strategies primarily through having a mix of food crops for subsistence, in combination with cash crops for income, are important for food security. This suggests a need to rethink dominant policy narratives, which have a narrow focus on increasing productivity and commercialization as the primary pathway to food security.
AB - Households combine capital assets in a process involving human agency and resourcefulness to construct livelihood strategies and generate well-being outcomes. Here, we (1) characterized types of livelihood strategies; (2) determined how different capital assets are associated with different livelihood strategies; and (3) determined how livelihood strategies differed in food security outcomes. We conducted a survey in southwestern Ethiopia and used principal component and cluster analyses. Five types of livelihood strategies, which differed mainly in food and cash crops comprising the strategy, were identified. These were, in order of decreasing food security: ‘three food crops, coffee and khat’, n = 68; ‘three food crops and khat’, n = 59; ‘two food crops, coffee and khat’, n = 78; ‘two food crops and khat’, n = 88; and ‘one food crop, coffee and khat’, n = 44. The livelihood strategy ‘three food crops, coffee and khat’ was associated with a wide range of capital assets, particularly having larger aggregate farm field size and learning from other farmers. A generalized linear model showed that livelihood strategies were significantly associated with food security outcomes. Particularly, a high number of food crops in a strategy was linked with relatively high food security. In this context, diversified livelihood strategies primarily through having a mix of food crops for subsistence, in combination with cash crops for income, are important for food security. This suggests a need to rethink dominant policy narratives, which have a narrow focus on increasing productivity and commercialization as the primary pathway to food security.
KW - Agriculture
KW - Diversification
KW - Ethiopia
KW - Food policies
KW - Livelihood strategies
KW - Smallholder farming
KW - Sustainability Science
KW - Environmental planning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060635427&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12571-018-00883-x
DO - 10.1007/s12571-018-00883-x
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 30931047
AN - SCOPUS:85060635427
VL - 11
SP - 167
EP - 181
JO - Food Security
JF - Food Security
SN - 1876-4517
IS - 1
ER -