Exploring the link between access to land and rural livelihood diversification strategies: a case study in the Mirab Abaya district, Ethiopia

In agrarian societies, rural livelihoods are increasingly becoming diversified. Yet farming remains the predominant activity from which rural people make a living and hence, access to productive land resources is crucial for their economic production and social reproduction. However, livelihood diversification is an uneven process that not all rural people are able to diversify, as this may depend on various factors. In this regard, how and to what extent access to land affects livelihood diversification is underexplored and remains an important empirical question. Based on a case study in Ethiopia, this study demonstrates that access to land and livelihood diversification are closely interlinked. The study shows that agriculture-based livelihood diversification is predominantly practiced while non-farm livelihood activities are performed mainly as complementary to farming-based livelihood activities. The pattern of agriculture-based livelihood diversification varies from place to place and household to household in the study area and is contingent on different factors such as the availability of irrigation, land sizes, market access and head of households. Livelihood diversification is shaped by and shapes socio-economic differentiation. While some households with relatively bigger landholdings diversify their livelihood activities as an accumulation strategy, most households with small farm sizes see diversification as a survival strategy amidst widespread food insecurity and inability to earn much from their small plots.