No One Size Fits All. Women Commercial Farm Employment and Fertility in Ethiopia: A Study of Saudi Star and MERTI Agricultural Development Farms^☆

Abstract

Modern agricultural farms offer huge potential in creating employment opportunities, which, in turn, are expected to reduce fertility. The Ethiopian government has recently leased out millions of hectares of farmland to investors under highly concessionary terms. However, little is known regarding women's farm employment effect on their fertility. Using survey data, this paper analyzed this link in the context of Saudi Star and Merti Agricultural Development farms. Results showed lower odds of fertility intention among employed women compared to non‐employed women where employment is measured more broadly. This result at a glance appears to be consistent with conventional theory which considers children as resulting from parental choice relative to other essential household goods constrained by resource shortages in the household's utility maximization framework. Where employment is measured rather narrowly (standard way) as in most socioeconomic research, however, the odds of fertility intention is higher. The two results were expected to be reversed since fertility was expected to be lower where employment is measured more narrowly than broadly where a range of employments are included. Additionally, effects associated with the recent establishment of Saudi Star farm compared to the more matured farms in Merti are likely to reduce fertility intention.