Analysis of Rural Livelihoods and Multidimensional Poverty in Zambia

The primary focus of this thesis is on rural livelihoods and multidimensional poverty in Zambia. Specifically, it evaluates the impacts of Farmer Input Support Programs (FISP) in sub-Saharan Africa on rural livelihoods, using Zambia as a case study. We employ data from the Rural Livelihood Survey, a three-wave panel dataset that covers the years 2012, 2015, and 2019 for all analyses conducted within this thesis. In Chapter 1, we provide an overview of the thesis. Chapter 2 examines the impact of FISP on indicators of rural livelihoods, which are measured through agricultural production and marketing, household food security, and household assets. Our findings indicate that input subsidy programs contribute to increased agricultural production, enhanced food security, and the accumulation of productive assets. Additionally, we observe that households with longer participation in the program experience more significant incremental benefits. Chapter 3 evaluates the effect of FISP on multidimensional poverty among rural households. Our study demonstrates that FISP mitigates deprivation status and reduces the incidence of multidimensional poverty. We highlight that the probability of being categorized as multidimensionally poor decreased by 23.2 percentage points for households that participated in the program. Furthermore, those who engaged in the program for extended periods experienced a more pronounced decrease in their deprivation scores compared to those who participated only once. In Chapter 4, we assess the effects of livelihood diversification on multidimensional poverty trajectories. Our findings reveal that income diversification and crop commercialization are strongly linked to a reduction in household deprivation status, with this association being particularly pronounced for the poorest households. We also note that higher levels of income diversification and commercialization reduce the likelihood of chronic poverty while increasing the chances of sustained poverty escape. The thesis concludes in Chapter 5 and highlights key findings from the study.