VIVA VOCE  19^th JANUARY, 2024 - TIME 09:00AM

Venue: Room 210, Second Floor, CoSS Tower.

NYOMBI RUGAZIA (REG NO: 2016-07-00056)

 Title:             “Rural Livelihood Diversification and its Effects on Food Security and Adoption of Improved Farm Inputs in Tanzania”

 PANEL

ABSTRACT

The Tanzanian rural economy had long been dependent on agriculture to sustain individuals and the community’s economic development. However, the structural and economic changes that Tanzania experienced over the years have necessitated transformation in the economic setup, at the macro and micro levels. This has facilitated rural economies to experience livelihood diversification, from being solely dependent on agriculture as the primary productive activity to adopting other productive activities (livestock keeping, wage-employment and trade or services) as their other key livelihood activities. Using the short-wave panel data from the Tanzania National Panel Survey, the study objectives determined factors influencing livelihood diversification amongst rural households; explained the influence of livelihood diversification on improving rural household food security; and observed the effects that livelihood diversification has on the adoption of improved farm inputs. While it is observed that livelihood diversification improves household food security and access to improved farm inputs, policy recommendations offered aim at supporting the establishment and growth of non-farm investment by facilitating public and private investment growth; formalizing economic activities for employees to benefit from monthly payments and access to financial resources, sustain household resilience against shocks by extending access to productive inputs; enact and implement policies that promote value addition to increase value of goods produced.