Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture No. 1/05
Heterogeneous constraints, incentives and income diversification strategies in rural Africa
Christopher B. Barrett
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA,
Mesfin Bezuneh
Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA, USA, and
Daniel C. Clay and Thomas Reardon
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Abstract
This study examines income sources and strategies among rural
populations in Côte d=Ivoire, Kenya and Rwanda, emphasizing the role of
initial asset endowments and resulting interhousehold heterogeneity in
constraints in the observed choices of income diversification
strategies and the general, stochastic returns to these strategies.
This approach reinforces the common finding that non-farm employment
can offer an important pathway out of poverty. But it also highlights
that these remunerative non-farm options remain inaccessible to those
with meager endowments of financial, human and natural capital.
Keywords: non-farm income, poverty, mobility barriers, livelihoods
Vol. 44 (2005), No. 1: 37-60