Forest-based livelihood choices and their determinants in Western Kenya

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of Mt Elgon region in western Kenya.

Figure 2. The Sustainable Livelihood Framework showing the linkage between household assets and livelihood strategies. Source: Adopted from the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (Nguyen et al. 2015).

Table 1. Description of variables and measurement.

Dependent variable	Description and measurement	Hypothesized signs
Log value of forest products extracted	The aggregate value of products extracted from the forests (fuelwood, food, fodder, rafters, poles, honey, medicine, and herbs) in Kenya shillings (KES)
Independent variables	Description and measurement
Human capital
Age	Age of household head in years	(±)
Gender	Dummy = 1 If the household head is male, 0 = otherwise	(+)
Level of education	The highest level of education attained	(−)
Household size	Number of members in the household	(+)
Financial capital
Access to credit	Dummy = 1 If the household head or any member of the household obtained credit during the preceding year, 0 = otherwise	(−)
Village variables
Distance to the nearest market	Distance from homestead to the nearest market in kilometers	(±)
Distance to all-weather road	Distance from homestead to the nearest all-weather road in kilometers	(−)
Access to insurance	Dummy = 1 If the household or any member of the household possessed an insurance cover 0 = otherwise	(−)
Access to extension	Dummy = 1 If the household head or any member of the household received extension service during the preceding year, 0 = otherwise	(±)
Natural capital
Distance to the forest	Distance from homestead to the edge of the forest in kilometers	(+)
Land size	The total size of land owned by the household in acres	(±)
Physical capital
Household assets	Measured in terms of their current value in KES	(±)
Social capital
Membership in a group	Dummy = 1 If the household head or any member of the household belonged to a farmer's group or association, 0 = otherwise	(±)
Shocks
Shocks experienced	Dummy = 1 if the household head or any member of the household experienced the shock, 0 = otherwise	(+)

Table 2. Basic household characteristics (participants and non-participants in forest-based livelihood).

	Full sample (n = 924	Participants of forest-based livelihood (n = 417)	Non-participants (n = 507)
Characteristics	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	p Values
Human capital
Age (years)	46.2 (13.6)	45.6 (13.4)	47.2 (13.8)	.0654
Household size (No.)	6.1 (2.2)	6.2 (2.1)	6.1 (2.2)	.3482
Gender: 0 = male	0.9	0.9	0.9	.8847
Education: Tertiary	0.02	0.01	0.04	.0035
Secondary	0.23	0.20	0.23	.778
Primary	0.51	0.52	0.5	.593
Employment: Farming	0.99	0.92	0.9	.012
Wage employment	0.06	0.04	0.1	.1337
Extension (1 = Yes)	0.6	0.49	0.5	.1001
Natural capital
Land size(acres)	1.3 (5.94)	1.4 (8.33)	1.2 (1.60)	.6709
Forest dist. (km)	2.5 (2.59)	2.5 (2.42)	2.6 (2.74)	.7741
Physical capital
Assets (KES)	28785.4 (11,4915.60)	20,544.3 (32,280.05)	36,677.4 (15,7331.3)	.0328
Market distance(km)	3.1 (2.19)	3.2 (2.78)	2.9 (2.98)	.2138
Distance to all-weather road (km)	13.8 (8.87)	13.7 (8.25)`	14.0 (9.43)	.5494
Financial capital
Off farm income (KES)	24,431.47 (21,252.61	29,043.02 (28,787.0	30,560.54 (65,281.34)	.0480
Credit (1 = Yes)	0.14	0.13	0.2	.2952
Expenditure (KES)	141,577 (93,250.15)	137,937.3 (79,285.17)	145,062.5 (104,863.3)	.2458
Social capital
FUG membership	0.5	0.62	0.400	.000
Shocks
Shocks (KES)	45,675 (74,112.63)	46,654.1 (77,506.27)	44,137.4 (70,780.3)	.6946

(Wealth index ≤ −1), middle income (1 < wealth index < −1), and high income (wealth index ≥ 1).

Table 3. Extent and nature of participation in forest-based livelihood.

Nature of forest extraction	Combined	Male HH	Female HH	p Value
Aggregate extracted value (USD)	1249.62	1012.99	700.18.92	.052
Wealthiest	599.48	637.90	100.00	.113
Middle wealthy	775.23	874.30	159.59	.004
Poorest	315.68	128.92	148.30	.103
Extracted value by product category (USD)
Firewood	723.96	779.14	363.19	.006
Wild vegetables	372.61	80.80	337.01	.005
Wild fruits	70.65	70.65	0	–
Honey	82.40	82.40	0	–

(Wealth index ≤ −1), middle income (1 < wealth index < −1), and high income (wealth index ≥ 1).

Table 4. Cragg’s Double Hurdle model results.

	First hurdle (decision to extract)		Second hurdle (level of extraction)
Variables	Coefficient	p Value	Coefficient	p Value
Human capital
Gender: 1 = Male	0.0940	.854	0.2112	.050
Age (years)	–0.1607	.040	–0.1065	.941
Household size (Numbers)	0.1037	.003	0.0654	.898
Access to extension 1 = Yes	–0.2192	.005	–0.2192	.162
Education level: Primary	0.5693	.432	–0.4250	.451
Secondary	0.6541	.417	–1.0839	.032
Physical capital
Distance to market (km)	–0.0504	.541	–0.1009	.005
Distance to all-weather roads (km)	–0.0516	.650	–0.2041	.003
Natural capital
Land size	–0.0252	.538	–0.2355	.005
Social capital
Membership in a farmer group 1 = Yes	0.1122	.051	0.1350	.897
Membership in a forest user group 1 = Yes	0.1265	.031	0.9641	.451
Financial capital
Access to credit1 = Yes	–0.2967	.781	–0.0454	.023
Wealth category: High income	–0.4184	.03	0.1213	.391
Middle wealthy	0.4276	.658	0.9620	.782

Low income (wealth index ≤ –1), middle income (1 < wealth index < –1), and high income (wealth index ≥ 1) Tertiary education is the reference level for education, Poorest is the reference level for wealth categories.

Table

	Wealthy	Middle wealthy	Poorest
Variables	Coefficient (p value)	Coefficient (p value)	Coefficient (p value)
Human capital
Age (years)	0.0008	–0.0085**	–0.0111
	(.933)	(.027)	(.366)
Gender: Male = 1	–0.0670	0.2350	–0.1965
	(.865)	(.146)	(.704)
Household size (no.)	0.1772**	0.0711**	0.0954
	(.029)	(.005)	(.171)
Education level: 1 = tertiary	–0.8248	–1.2392***	–0.9066
	(.276)	(.004)	(.421)
Access to extension services: 1 = yes	0.2547	0.1083	0.3711
	(.423)	(.316)	(.221)
Physical capital
Distance to market (km)	0.0061	0.0923***	0.1184*
	(.909)	(.000)	(.059)
Distance to all-weather roads (km)	–0.0211	–0.0147**	0.0223
	(.163)	(.018)	(.161)
Financial capital
Access to credit: 1 = yes	0.4764	–0.0163	–0.3239
	(.214)	(.919)	(.372)
Expenditure levels (USD)	–4.64e-06**	–5.51e-07	–2.13e-06
	(.034)	(.378)	(.205)
Assets value (USD.)	6.45e-06	–1.50e-06	–1.80e-07
	(.395)	(.145)	(.968)
Social capital
Membership in CFAs: (1 = yes)	0.7863	0.5885***	0.8085***
	(.011)	(.000)	(.006)
Natural capital
Size of land (acres)	–0.1575*	0.0034	0.0308
	(.105)	(.737)	(.680)

1% sig=***, 5% sig=**, and 10% sig=* low income (wealth index ≤ –1), middle income (1 < wealth index < –1), and high income (wealth index ≥ 1).

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