AfricaRISING – Quick Feeds

Livelihoods Stratification for Bekoji District

Peter Thorne and Amare Haileslassie

Africa-RISING Quick Feed Project Synthesis Workshop, Addis Ababa, 3-4 September 2012

Hypotheses

Households stratified by livelihood endowments access and manage feed resources in different ways.

More robust development outcomes will result from identifying practises that are transferable amongst strata and augmenting these with “external” innovations that target constraints and opportunities relevant to each stratum.

Limu Bilbilo District

BokoJi Negeso

The Project Site

Stratifications

Existing: Three communities (Chefa Woligal, Mirti Laman and Tulu Negeso)

Livelihoods benchmarking: Top 25% versus bottom 25% (in terms of livelihood asset endowments)

Extracted typology based on livelihoods: use all the livelihoods indicators to identify similar households

Why do we Stratify?

In any community, not everyone is the same!

Different people face different problems and are able to respond to different opportunities

We stratify to identify groups of people whose circumstances are similar enough for them to share common solutions

Livelihoods Capital Assets

Human (traits of individuals or groups)Social (interactions amongst

individuals or groups)Natural (the resource base)Physical (infrastructure and physical

tools)Financial (sources of cash)

Livelihoods Process

Five / six key informants from each community

Introduction of conceptsEach community identifies relevant

indicators (group discussions)Prepare checklist of 50 combined

indicators49 household livelihood statuses assessed

by individual interview

Mirti Laman Tulu Negeso Chefa Woligal Combined

1. Education 1. Strong family ties

1.Family size Level of education

2. Motivation 2. knowledge / skills

2. Education Degree of motivation

3. Confidence 3. Education 3. Age (dominant age group)

Level of confidence in own abilities

4. Training 4. Health 4. Gender mix Proportion of productive family members

5. Age of family 5. Family size 5. Motivation Access to training and new technologies

6. Special skills (e.g. carpenter)

6. Age mix Possession of special skills (e.g. thatching / carpentery)

7. Experience Possession of farming knowledge and skills

8. Gender mix in family

Level of experience acquired

Health status of familyFamily sizeRatio of males to females in family

Example Indicators (Human Capital)

Benchmark Stratification

Land area (ha)

Non-crop land (ha)

Livestock units

Large : small

ruminants

Productive family

members

High 4.6 1.6 7.2 0.73 4.6

Medium 4.9 2.3 7.6 0.68 4.6

Low 3.4 1.4 5.2 0.82 4.1

Three groups extracted with high, medium and low average livelihood status

Community Benchmarks

Most Important Dimensions of Livelihoods

Most Important Dimensions of Livelihoods

Financial Capital Indicators

Income from cropping

Income from livestock

Off-farm income

High 4.46 4.77 3.84

Medium 3.61 4.30 3.87

Low 2.38 3.62 3.46

Human Capital Indicators

Farming skills

Other skills

Confidence Males : females

Productive family

members

High 4.69 4.38 4.69 3.54 4.23

Medium 4.00 3.83 4.40 2.61 3.52

Low 2.07 3.23 3.76 0.69 2.77

Social Capital Indicators

Shared knowledge and skills

Quality of community leadership

Status in community

Idder member

High 4.53 4.07 4.23 3.84

Medium 4.47 2.26 2.50 3.13

Low 3.00 2.92 2.00 4.15

Natural Capital Indicators

Access to forest

Access to grazing

Feed availability

Improved livestock breeds

High 3.38 4.53 4.69 4.77

Medium 3.26 4.17 4.04 4.34

Low 2.00 3.46 3.08 3.07

Vulnerability

Access to feed Availability of grazing

Current Five years time

Current Five years time

High 4.69 3.15 4.54 1.84

Medium 4.04 3.48 4.17 0.61

Low 3.07 1.30 3.46 0.62

Income from livestock

Current Five years time

High 3.85 2.31

Medium 3.87 3.57

Low 3.31 3.46

Principal ComponentsKey Differences Amongst Households

Principal ComponentsKey Differences Amongst Households

Principal Components (Natural Capital)

General access to natural resourcesContribution of rain-fed crop

productionStrength of the livestock resource

base (numbers, breeds)Enabling environment for livestock

production (feeds, health status, off-farm biomass)

Principal Components (Financial Capital)

Overall financial well-beingAccess to credit and savingsOff-farm income

Principal Components (Human Capital)

Broad impact of human capital assetsEducationExperience and general motivationHealth and confidence. Enabling

qualities.

Principal Components (Social Capital)

Cooperation and sharingTrust and reciprocityLeadership / external influences?Personal status and links with

immediate neighbours

Principal Components (Physical Capital)

Infrastructure; markets, transports and electricity.

Agricultural technologies: implements and milling.

Other technologies: telephone and radio.

Cluster Analysis

What are the Cluster Groups?

Land area (ha)

Non-crop land (ha)

Livestock units

Large : small

ruminants

Family size

Group 1 4.2 1.5 7.1 0.61 6.6

Group 2 4.2 1.9 7.4 0.79 7.1

Group 3 3.7 1.9 5.7 0.67 5.0

Group 4 5.7 2.3 6.5 0.94 6.6

Cluster Group Benchmarks