Poverty and income inequality in Afar communities in Ethiopia

The CELEP member PENHA (Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa) published the paper “Status and determinants of poverty and income inequality in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities: household-based evidence from Afar Regional State, Ethiopia” in World Development Perspectives 15 (2019). It analyses determinants of poverty and income inequality in pastoralist and agropastoralist communities in Zones 1 and 2 in Afar Region. A survey was made of 2295 households and data were examined using the Forster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index, the Gini coefficient and logistic regression.

It was found that almost half of the households were poor, with a poverty gap index of 0.178 and poverty severity index of 0.092. Food poverty was higher in pastoralist (36%) than in agropastoralist households (30%). The Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) had relatively little impact on levels of poverty: 32% of non-participating households were poor while 36% of participating households were poor. Determinants of poverty were gender of household head, family size, access to credit, mobility, participation in local institutions, distance to market and remittances. An alarmingly high degree of income inequality (0.592) was found. The lowest Gini index (0.433) was found in Koneba District and the highest (0.616) in households headed by widows. Recommendations to address the high poverty and inequality in Afar are to strengthen the poverty reduction programmes, introduce diversified income schemes, modernise local institutions, increase provision of microfinance services, and introduce packages specific to women and youth.

Posted on 22 December 2019 in Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition