Evolving Farm and Off‐Farm Income Sources and Jobs in Rural Africa

Chrispinus Mutsami, Martin C. Parlasca and Matin Qaim

Journal of International Development, 2025, vol. 37, issue 6, 1367-1380

Abstract: Livelihood sources in rural Africa are diverse and dynamic. Using recent primary survey data from four African countries—Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia—we consider regions with different conditions related to climate, agroecology, infrastructure and nature conservation to analyse the role of various income sources for households and individuals. Although most rural households are involved in small‐scale farming, we challenge the conventional notion that own agricultural activities still constitute the main source of income. On average, off‐farm sources—including wage employment, self‐employment, remittances, and transfers—account for 60% of total household income. The off‐farm income share increases with total income, meaning that the poorest households are the ones most dependent on agriculture. These patterns are similar across all four countries. Most off‐farm employment involves self‐employed activities in small informal businesses. More lucrative formal employment opportunities are rare and mostly pursued by individuals with post‐secondary education and training. Men are more likely to be involved in wage employment than women. Furthermore, individual social networks and access to road and market infrastructure are positively associated with off‐farm employment. The important role of off‐farm jobs for rural development should receive more policy attention. Larger investments into generating inclusive non‐agricultural employment opportunities are needed.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.70010

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:37:y:2025:i:6:p:1367-1380

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Development is currently edited by Paul Mosley and Hazel Johnson

More articles in Journal of International Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().