Rainfall variability and farm households’ food insecurity in Burkina Faso: nonfarm activities as a coping strategy

Purpose Credit is central in labour allocation decisions in smallholder agriculture in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of credit constraints on farm households’ labour allocation decisions in rural Burkina Faso. Design/methodology/approach The study used a direct elicitation approach of credit constraints and applied a farm household model to categorize households into four labour market participation regimes. A joint estimation of both the multinomial logit model and probit model was applied on survey data from Burkina Faso to assess the effect of credit constraint on the probability of choosing one of the four alternatives. Findings The results of the probit model showed that households’ endowment of livestock, access to news, and membership to an farmer-based organization were factors lowering the probability of being credit constrained in rural Burkina Faso. The multinomial logit model results showed that credit constraints negatively influenced the likelihood of a farm household to use hired labour in agricultural production and perhaps more importantly it induces farm households to hire out labour off farm. The results also showed that the other components of household characteristics and farm attributes are important factors determining the relative probability of selecting a particular labour market participation regime. Social implications Facilitating access to credit in rural Burkina Faso can encourage farm households to use hired labour in agricultural production and thereby positively impacting farm productivity and relieving unemployment pressures. Originality/value In order to identify the effect of credit constraints on farm households’ labour decisions, this study examined farm households’ decisions of hiring on-farm labour, supplying labour off-farm or simultaneously hiring on-farm labour and supplying family labour off-farm under credit constraints using the direct elicitation approach of credit constraints. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine this problem in Burkina Faso.

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Determinants of food insecurity in the rural farm households in South Wollo Zone of Ethiopia: the case of the Teleyayen sub-watershed

Agricultural and Food Economics ◽

10.1186/s40100-018-0106-4 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Alem-meta Assefa Agidew ◽

K. N. Singh

Keyword(s):

Food Insecurity ◽

Farm Households

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Analysis of off-farm work decisions among smallholder farm households in Burkina Faso

Development in Practice ◽

10.1080/09614524.2018.1541965 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 326-335

Author(s):

Soumaila Gansonré

Keyword(s):

Burkina Faso ◽

Farm Households ◽

Farm Work ◽

Smallholder Farm

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Food insecurity and household adaptability in rapidly changing informal districts of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Natural Resources, Socio-Ecological Sensitivity and Climate Change in the Volta-Oti Basin, West Africa ◽

10.1201/9781003106708-18 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 249-261

Author(s):

S. Rouamba

Keyword(s):

Food Insecurity ◽

Burkina Faso

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Magnitude of Child Food Insecurity, Its Association with Child Immunization and Huosehold wealth Status, and Coping Strategies In Dabat Demographic and Surveillance System North West Ethiopia

International Journal of Pediatrics ◽

10.1155/2020/3746354 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nigusie Birhan Tebeje ◽

Gashaw Andargie Biks ◽

Solomon Mekonnen Abebe ◽

Melike Endris Yesuf

Keyword(s):

Food Insecurity ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Coping Strategy ◽

Household Wealth ◽

Health Surveillance ◽

Child Health Service ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Wealth Status ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Surveillance Site

Background. The magnitude of food insecurity in Ethiopia ranges from 38.7% to 82.3% among the general population. Children under the age of five years were more prone to food insecurity and its serious consequences like anemia, low bone density, frequent episodes of common cold, stomachache, poor educational performance, and dental carries in developing countries like Ethiopia. However, there is no any research finding that documented the magnitude of child food insecurity, coping strategies, and associated factors in the study area. Therefore, the aim of this study was estimating the magnitude of child food insecurity, major coping strategies, and factors associated with child food insecurity in the study area. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional survey has been conducted in Dabat demographic and health surveillance site among 7152 mothers/caretakers of children under the age of five years. Data were collected by experienced data collectors working for the demographic and health surveillance site, and the collected data were entered into EpiData template and then transported to Stata 14 software for data cleaning and analysis. The ordinal logistic regression model was fitted to identify predictors for child food insecurity. Results. About 21.42% of children under the age of five years were food insecure in Dabat district of whom 57.8%, 38.6%, and 3.6% had experienced mild, moderate, and severe levels of child food insecurity, respectively. All most all 1391 (92%) of the mothers/caretakers of food insecure children had practiced food insecurity coping strategies. More than half (57%) of mothers/caretakers reduces the size of child meal as insecurity coping strategy. Child food insecurity was associated with household wealth status, parent’s education status, and maternal and child health service utilization and child feeding practices. Conclusion. A large segment of under-five children had experienced food insecurity in Dabat district, and the major coping strategy for child food insecurity was reducing meal size. Therefore, working on household wealth improvement and expansion of basic health services would improve child food security.

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