Perceived Determinants of Smallholder Households’ Resilience to Livelihood Insecurity in Goncha District, Northwest Highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract

Climate change, hazards to productive assets, social-related shocks, and land productivity reduction are all likely to make poor households less resilient. In Ethiopia’s highlands, the ability to deal with household resilience against poverty in the face of uncertainty is minimal. In the Goncha district of Ethiopia’s Northwest highlands, the study attempts to identify factors of household resilience to livelihood insecurity under crop-livestock mixed agricultural systems. Face-to-face interviews with 280 households were conducted using a structured questionnaire to acquire primary data. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and structural equation modeling. The results revealed that household resilience to livelihood insecurity was significantly influenced by perceptions of sustainable farming practices, the cultivation of more fertile farmland, savings performance, diversification of income-generating activities, intensification of livestock husbandry practices, access to irrigation practice, and familiarity with practical technologies. Hence, scaling up sustainable farming systems and practical technologies, improving saving habits, increasing income diversification, and intensifying agroforestry are perceived to be significant to increase smallholder household resilience to livelihood insecurity over agroecologies.