Impact of livelihood strategies on household wellbeing in land shortage villages of mvomero district, Tanzania

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Date

2019

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

East African Journal of Social and Applied Sciences

Abstract

This paper examines a household’s wellbeing status (HWBS) and its relationship with Livelihood Strategies (LS) and demographic characteristics (DC) in the land shortage villages of Mvomero District, Tanzania. Through a cross-sectional research design, a structured questionnaire was administered to 267 randomly selected households. The findings show that 95.3% of households were unwell expressly in Mgeta villages; only 6.7% formed a well-off category. Unlike the hypothesis, a combination of on and off-farm LS confirmed to have a positive significant influence (p < 0.05) on the likelihood for a household to be well-off, whilst sole farming demonstrated a negative influence. Likewise, unlike the hypothesis, location of a household and sex of its head verified to have a negative influence (p < 0.05) on the likelihood for a household to be well-off. It is concluded that the majority of households are not well and only a combination of on and off-farm LS enhance wellbeing except for female headed households and those located within shrunken arable land areas. Tanzania’s Development agencies are advised to encourage LS diversification, relocation to land abundant area while paying special attention to female headed households.

Description

Journal article

Keywords

Arable land, Diversification, Livelihood strategies, Household Well-Being, Farming

Citation

Urassa, J. K. & Lyatuu, P. M. (2019). Impact of Livelihood Strategies on Household Wellbeing in Land Shortage Villages of Mvomero District, Tanzania, East African Journal of Social and Applied Sciences, 1(2), 95- 113