Rural Livelihood Diversification in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Literature Review

Loison, Sarah Alobo

doi:10.1080/00220388.2015.1046445

Cited by 291 publications

(165 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…We defined livelihoods as being comprised of the strategies and assets required to make a living (Scoones 1998). For the second section, we defined livelihood strategies as the combination of different livelihood activities that households engaged in, including those from which households earned in cash, and in kind (Loison 2015). We asked about all types of livelihood activities to determine the composition of livelihood strategies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Livelihood strategies, capital assets, and food security in rural Southwest Ethiopia

et al. 2019

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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.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12571-018-00883-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Livelihood strategies, capital assets, and food security in rural Southwest Ethiopia

et al. 2019

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“…However, the dilemma is that in SSA, farming is mainly practiced by resource-poor smallholder farmers who cannot afford most of the inputs at the actual market prices (Alobo Loison 2015). Similarly, there are no systematic policies to encourage (1) recycling of organic wastes from cities, (2) recovering nutrients from wastewater, and (3) collecting municipal sewage sludge for use on agricultural lands where they are needed.…”

Section: Improved Agronomic Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dilemma of nitrogen management for future food security in sub-Saharan Africa – a review

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Food security entails having sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet dietary needs. The need to optimise nitrogen (N) use for nutrition security while minimising environmental risks in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is overdue. Challenges related to managing N use in SSA can be associated with both insufficient use and excessive loss, and thus the continent must address the 'too little' and 'too much' paradox. Too little N is used in food production (80% of countries have N deficiencies), which has led to chronic food insecurity and malnutrition. Conversely, too much N load in water bodies due mainly to soil erosion, leaching, limited N recovery from wastewater, and atmospheric deposition contributes to eutrophication (152 Gg N year -1 in Lake Victoria, East Africa). Limited research has been conducted to improve N use for food production and adoption remains low, mainly because farming is generally practiced by resource-poor smallholder farmers. In addition, little has been done to effectively address the 'too much' issues, as a consequence of limited research capacity. This research gap must be addressed, and supportive policies operationalised, to maximise N benefits, while also minimising pollution. Innovation platforms involving key stakeholders are required to address N use efficiency along the food supply chain in SSA, as well as other world regions with similar challenges.

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“…The commonly used "asset pentagon" differentiates among five asset categories, deemed "capitals," namely, financial, human, natural, physical, and social capital (Chambers & Conway, 1991;Ellis, 2000;Rigg, 2003). Changes in an individual or a household's access to livelihood assets are thought to propel diversification strategies, including "distress diversification" to cope with reduced access options and "progressive diversification" to benefit from new opportunities (Alobo Loison, 2015;de Haan & Zoomers, 2005;Ellis, 2000). Our cases document distress diversification, or simplification in the Chinese context.…”

Section: Technologies As Vectors Of Social Projects and Drivers Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

The disappearance of water buffalo from agrarian landscapes in Western China

Rousseau

Sturgeon

2018

Journal of Agrarian Change

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For centuries, water buffalo served important livelihood functions for ethnic minority farmers in Southwest China. Yet, over the past decade, buffalo ownership decreased dramatically in our research sites in Yunnan province. This transition occurred after state policies and projects excluded villagers from significant portions of their land. Increased state control over landscapes allowed the state to respatialize land uses in ways conducive to productivist and environmentalist logics, with farmers cultivating cash crops on limited production landscapes and state agencies taking over control of larger environmental landscapes. Buffalo are welcome in neither setting. Handai and Akha farmers have divergent perceptions on the outcomes of these technological shifts, with Handai beginning to question buffalo loss while Akha having contented to become “modern” farmers. In both cases, our analysis challenges the literatures on sustainability transitions and ecological modernization that posit apolitical and optimistic outcomes for farmers' adoption of “modern” and “green” technologies.

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Rural Livelihood Diversification in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Literature Review

Cited by 291 publications

References 81 publications

Livelihood strategies, capital assets, and food security in rural Southwest Ethiopia

Livelihood strategies, capital assets, and food security in rural Southwest Ethiopia

Dilemma of nitrogen management for future food security in sub-Saharan Africa – a review

The disappearance of water buffalo from agrarian landscapes in Western China

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