Rural household characteristics and poverty in Bukombe district, Shinyanga region, Tanzania
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Date
2009
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
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.
Description
Master of Arts Dissertation in Rural Development
Keywords
Rural household, Bukombe district, Shinyanga, Poverty