Diversification and Livelihood Sustainability in a Semi-Arid Environment: A Case Study from Southern Ethiopia

Wassie Berhanu, David Colman and Bichaka Fayissa

No 200806, Working Papers from Middle Tennessee State University, Department of Economics and Finance

Abstract: This paper examines the recently growing adoption of non-pastoral livelihood strategies among the Borana pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. A large portion of the current non-pastoral participation is in petty and natural resource-based activities. Pastoral and crop production functions are estimated using the Cobb-Douglas model to analyse the economic rationale behind the growing pastoralist shift to cultivation and other non-pastoral activities. The low marginal return to labour in traditional pastoralism suggests the existence of surplus labour that can gainfully be transferred to non-pastoral activities. An examination of the pastoralist activity choices reveals that the younger households with literacy and more exposure to the exchange system display a more diversified income portfolio preference. The findings underscore the importance of human capital investment and related support services for improving the pastoralist capacity to manage risk through welfare-enhancing diversified income portfolio adoption.

Keywords: Pastoralism; Dryland Farming; Diversification; Production Functions; Ethiopia. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D00 I3 J2 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-agr
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Diversification and livelihood sustainability in a semi-arid environment: A case study from southern Ethiopia (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mts:wpaper:200806

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