Reducing Poverty, Food and Nutrition Insecurity, and Destitution: Does Building Resilience Capacity Matters? Panel Data Evidence from Rural Ethiopia
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Date
2023-03-20
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
While there are assumptions that resilience has led to curbing poverty, food and nutrition insecurity, and destitution, the empirics are limited to ascertain the linkages and finding out implications for policy uptake in Ethiopia. In light of this, this dissertation examine the role of resilience on reducing welfare problems in rural Ethiopia. The data comes from the three rounds of the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey (2011/12-2015/16). Resilience is estimated using the resilience index measurement analysis (RIMA–II) approach. The Alkire and Foster's methodology, on the other hand, is employed to compute multidimensional poverty and destitution. We also attempted to use the third generation poverty measures: structural and stochastic poverty. Furthermore, the study compute food and nutrition insecurity using kilocalories, food poverty, dietary diversity and food consumption scores, and multidimensional perspectives. The data were analyzed using different micro-econometrics techniques in four self-contained but closely related articles. Since alternatives measures have low static correlation and dynamic mismatch, exclusive reliance on a single measure may send inaccurate signal to policymaking. Dominance of transitory escape and impoverishment implies that lifting people out of the pool of welfare problems will not be enough unless descents are simultaneously addressed. The econometric results reveals that climate induced, price and production related shocks and conflict come up as household stressors that exacerbate welfare problems. The other strand of challenge that contributes to the growing welfare problems are dependence on rain-fed farming accompanied with land fragmentation, old-age and female headship, dependency ratio, wage labor participation, loan, and poor road and marketing networks. In contrast, households experienced steady declines in poverty, food insecurity, and destitution as a response to slight growth in resilience. Resilience also serves as a mechanism to deal with welfare problems in the face of shocks. However, resilience is not a panacea. There exists a potential for farming to be an integral part in the process. The farming potential, however, is expected to be tapped through improving commercialization, irrigation, extension, roads, and marketing networks. Currently, it is unlikely to continue as land pressure is increasing due to population growth. Thus, fostering the non-farm economy, good vegetation cover, and human capital formation are imperative. Interventions aimed at eradicating those welfare problems would do well when focusing on enabling factors that can enhance resilience as a conduit mechanism. Besides, more support to should be given to the farming economy. The farming potential is tapped through improving commercialization, investment in irrigation, extension, and road and market networks. Nevertheless, the sector is fraught and less remunerative. Thus, the finding accentuate the need for policy interventions that reinforce productive farming and the non-farm economy. An emerging line of enquiry for the viability and development of rural households generally, and reducing those welfare problems, specifically highlighted the vital role of growth from below and rural revitalization.
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Resilience, poverty, food insecurity, destitution, micro-econometrics, Ethiopia