Browsing by Author "Maselle, Anna Enock"

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Rural household characteristics and poverty in Bukombe district, Shinyanga region, Tanzania
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2009) Maselle, Anna Enock
The magnitude, incidence and prevalence of poverty in developing countries pose a threat to the survival of rural communities despite efforts deployed to alleviate it. The present study was carried out to determine the relationships between key household characteristics (demographic and socio-economic factors) and poverty. The information generated will assist policy makers in their endeavour to regulate population growth and ultimately eradicate poverty in Tanzania. Poverty was defined in terms of low level of possessions of durable assets and its alleviation would be characterized by a substantial increase in the possession of such durables. A cross-sectional survey was employed and covered 120 households. It was found that the incidence of poverty in Bukombe District was about 56%. The depth of poverty was wider in large households than in small ones. There was evidence that poverty was associated with female headship, marital status and age dependency. The results further revealed that poverty was related to low level of education and income, occupation and the quality of food consumed. However, there was no significance relationship between poverty and age of household heads and landholdings. It is recommended that, the traditional idea that children are investment assets should be abandoned as it proved to be a risk factor for poverty. The reasons for preference of many children in the study area should be weighed properly to make sure they do not affect government’s efforts in alleviating poverty. There is also a need for a significant increase in the rate of women education since women constitute the poorest segment of the population. Since farming as an activity was observed in the majority of the respondents and found to be a risk factor for poverty, non-farming projects should be introduced and use of high yielding agricultural technologies.