The aim of this case study commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland is to illustrate, how rural households in eastern Zambia earn their income today and what are the major changes in households’ income portfolios during the past 17 years. The data for the study originates from two sources. First, a baseline comes from a dataset compiled during the 1985/86 growing season in Eastern Province by IFPRI in collaboration with the Zambian institutions. The second source of data and information is the Eastern Province Income Diversification study (EPIDS) conducted by the researcher in January-May 2003. Most people living in rural areas of developing countries are dependent on diversified sources of income. Agriculture alone either does not provide sufficient income or the income is seasonal and as such does not facilitate steady consumption throughout the year. In some cases land is insufficient to meet the family needs. Some household may also have extra labour or capit a l, which is expected to generate better returns outside agricultural production, diversification thus may have characteristics of investment. In many cases, diversification, however, is a coping strategy, especially when the harvest is poor and the family has to buy food for survival. Risk management does not fully explain diversification behaviour because the poorest, who are often most averse to risks, often diversify their activities less than the wealthier. Many factors have been found to determine both the willingness and capacity of households to diversify; for example, household access to social, human, financial, physical, and natural capital. Household size, educational level, health, access to credit, physical location, infrastructure, social networks, gender-balance, and the physical environment, are all potential determinants. In Zambia, research on rural income diversification has received only limited attention. Some studies from the early 1980s indicated that r ural n on-farm employment contributed 24 – 30% of the rural cash income, and that 90 per cent of rural households had some income from non-farm sources. In Eastern province, where subsistence and small-scale agriculture are dominant modes of production, the demand for labour for cropping activities dictated the household labour allocation patterns between farm and non-farm activities. In Zambia the government used to have a heavy controlling and regulating role in the agricultural sector from the start of the independence in 1964 until the early 1990s. Hybrid maize production was promoted through research, extension, credit, input supply, marketing, and price subsidy programmes funded by the government and donors. In this policy environment, maize production was meant to be largely free of uncertainty, which led to a rapid expansion of production in Zambia from the 1970s to early the 1990s. With government support, the proportion of smallholder farmers in maize production rose to 80 perce nt towards the end of the 1980s. Maize accounted for 95 per cent of agricultural crop sales of the smallholder farmers. After the new government took over in 1991, the liberalisation of the economy advanced rapidly because of the fiscal crisis, the influence of the international financial institutions, intolerably high costs to the national economy caused by the agricultural sector, and the generally more liberalisation-friendly attitude of the new regime. The main elements of the agricultural reforms were dismantling or privatisation of the state-owned marketing and processing institutions and input and credit distribution systems, abolition of producer and consumer subsidies, gradual lifting of export and import restrictions, and the introduction of market-based price determination. The liberalisation resulted in the collapse of marketing and credit and fertiliser delivery systems, especially in remote rural areas from 1993 to 1995, which had an accelerating impact on rural poverty . From 1996 on, the increasing producer prices and deregulation of maize milling have led to growth in rural areas; however, the beneficiaries of this growth were those with access to inputs, transport and services. The rural growth has therefore been accompanied by an increase in inequality. Many small farmers in Zambia have been unable to benefit from the new agricultural potential owing to poor infrastructure and non-functioning markets for inputs, credits, and services. Not only have agricultural policy reforms and market liberalisation affected people’s lives and living conditions in rural Zambia, but some other simultaneous phenomena and trends – HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation among others – also shape the social and economic environment. For this study 199 households were interviewed in four districts of Eastern province. According to the findings, the income calculated both for the entire household and per household member have declined significantly since 1985/86. Sim ultaneously with the agricultural reforms in the early 1990s, charges and user fees were introduced to many government services including education above primary level, clinics, hospitals and medicines, veterinary services, which all put more income-earning pressure on households which have not been able to respond to this demand. Both agricultural productivity and profitability have declined in Eastern Zambia. The cultivated land areas per household, use of inputs, yields per hectare, and prices of products have decreased compared to the 1985/86 situation. Crop diversification from maize to groundnuts, cotton, cassava, and sweet potato has taken place but maize is still the main staple food crop grown by practically all households. Labour-constraints caused by health problems, diminishing number of livestock and necessity to work on other people’s farms affect crop production. Only a few households have managed to register their land and now have a title deed. Man y rural institutions and organisations have also deteriorated over the years. Non-farm sources of income have increased as a proportion of the total income because money from crops has decreased, but their absolute amount has not increased compared to the 1985/86 survey. There seems to be a close linkage between agricultural production and non-farm income opportunities, for example, money needed to pay for non-farm products and services originates from agricultural production and agricultural income is needed for non-farm investments. Non-farm activities were also found to be local and seasonal. Piecework opportunities follow the agricultural cycle, whereas business activities are more frequent during the dry season. Households feel that their labour is not enough for growing food which, in the absence of profitable alternatives, threatens their food security. The need to look for piecework on other people’s farms is seen as a disadvantage, which prevents people from cultivating their own farms properly . General deterioration has taken place in people’s living conditions. The deflated average household gross income is now less than it was 18 years ago and income per person has worsened because the family size has grown from 5.60 to 6.15. All households were below the poverty line of 1 USD/capita/day even taking into account the value of home-consumed food and the value of household assets. Almost every indicator revealed worse conditions for female-headed households than for male-headed. The food security situation among smallholder farmers is alarming. Households cannot produce and store enough food to take them from one season to the next. Many simultaneous processes have affected rural income accumulation in Zambia during the 1990s and it is difficult to distinguish the precise contribution of each factor to the total change. The rapid withdrawal of the subsidies and the simultaneous dismantling of the marketing structures accompanied by droughts, li vestock deaths, HIV/AIDS and e nvironmental degradation have led to a chaotic situation affecting people’s lives in remote rural areas. Flourishing agriculture also enhances non-farm activities. In the current situation non-farm income supplements but cannot compensate for the declining agricultural income. Several simultaneous actions are needed at different levels to help rural smallholders to secure their livelihoods and lift themselves out of poverty.
Tulokset
Tutkimus on Ulkoministeriön rahoittaman tilaustutkimuksen osalta päättynyt ja loppuraportoitu marraskuussa 2003. Jatkossa kuitenkin tutkija Kaisa Karttusen väitöskirjassa samaa aineistoa hyödynnetään syvemmälle menevin analyysein ja teoriakehityksin
Vastaava tutkija
Kola Jukka, Helsingin yliopisto, Taloustieteen laitos Yhteistyötahot
Ulkoministeriö, Suomi
Hankkeen kesto 2003 - 2003
Asiasanat
maaseutu, maatalous, tulot, Afrikka
Hankkeen vaihe: päättynyt
HUOM! Tämä tutkimushankekuvaus on tuotettu Hankehaaviin Helsingin yliopiston TUHTI-tutkimustietojärjestelmästä, jota ei enää ylläpidetä. Tarkista ajantaiset tutkimushanketiedot Helsingin yliopiston TUHAT-järjestelmästä.
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