Livestock as a buffer against HIV and AIDS income shocks in the rural households of Zimbabwe

Figures & data

Table 1: Livestock characteristics by households

Inventories	Cattle		Goats		Poultry	Average sales per year
	n	mean	n	mean
	HIV/AIDS-affected households in Muzarabani	9	31	70			3	10	32
HIV/AIDS-affected households in Bindura	5	11	52	1	3	27
Non-affected households in Muzarabani	13	26	35	1	3	5
Non-affected households in Bindura	6	8	20	0	1	3

Table 2: HIV/AIDS-affected households' motives (%) for selling livestock

	Cattle		Goats		Poultry
Motive/Income shock	Severe	Mild	Severe	Mild	Severe	Mild
Consumption (food expenses)	10	4	80	67	88	82
Medical expenses	13	32	9	11	2	4
Funeral expenses	67	43	4	8	1	0
Crop production expenses	6	15	2	10	5	6
Livestock care	1	2	3	2	1	5
Gifts	0	0	1	0	3	3
Other^a	2	4	1	2	0	0
^aThese include expenses such as lobola (bride price) and traditional ceremonies.

Table 3: OLS estimates of the determinants of net livestock sales for HIV/AIDS-affected households

	Cattle		Goats		Poultry
Explanatory variables	PE	t -ratio	PE	t -ratio	PE	t -ratio
Income shock (any income loss due to HIV/AIDS)	0.78**	1.39	0.83	1.34	0.91	1.56
Shock × per capita livestock value	− 0.71**	− 0.85	0.53	− 1.16	0.49	− 1.10
Shock × log per capita physical assets	− 0.89**	− 2.15	− 0.69**	− 1.37	− 0.59**	− 2.41
Shock × per capita cash holdings	− 0. 25*	1.59	− 0.15*	− 1.46	− 0.13*	− 3.37
Shock × crop income	− 0.37**	1.37	− 0.31**	− 2.67	0.24**	− 0.95
Number of chronically ill adults	1.24**	2.41	3.21**	2.36	10.4**	3.07
Mother dead	0.63*	1.67	0.10*	1.31	0.17*	1.25
Father dead	0.18	1.96	0.88**	2.48	0. 91**	3.85
Age of household head	− 0.75	2.34	0.54	1.67	0.78	1.11
Household size	0.77*	0.45	0.68*	1.28	0.81*	2.51
R ^2	0.62	−	0.57	−	0.63	−
Observations	200	−	200	−	200	−
Regressions are at household level: **, significant at 5%; *, significant at 10%. Other regressors included marital status and education level of the head of household and community variables such as access to health services.
PE, parameter estimate.