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The objective of this study is to examine challenges of rural livelihood development in the four KAs of Enemorena-Enir Woreda in Southern Nation Nationality and Peoples' Regional State. To attain this objective, research questions that lead to research findings have been developed. Appropriate literatures were reviewed based on relevance to the subject matter under consideration. Findings were drawn from data generated through the combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The research employed key informant interview, focus group discussions, direct observation and in-depth interviews mainly to collect qualitative data, and household survey was conducted on 120 randomly selected households. The findings of this study has revealed that, although different actors were putting efforts to develop livelihood status of the area, efforts made by development actors were challenged and undermined by erratic rainfall patterns, livestock and crop diseases, rapid population growth, shortage of land and other problems like lack of awareness, community participation, not wall designed projects . Households in the area covered are found to be engaging in non-farm activities to supplement the income gained from farming. Petty trade, craftworks, migration and local wage employments are the major off-farm or non-farm activities that households in the study areas are engaging themselves in. In addition to this, research findings also testified that people who have arable land, water have better diversified their activities. Meaning, wealthy households mainly relied on mixed farming (crop and livestock) and other activities such as petty trading. As poor households are resource poor, they intended less to participate on high return activities. The study also revealed that a higher proportion of female-headed households found to diversify than their counterparts, but mostly towards low return activities. The male-headed households diversify relatively to high return activities such as trade and crafts. The participation of poor households in high return income generating activities is found to be poor. This was constrained by multiple factors including poor resources (natural, physical, human, financial and social). It is also found to be important to address the constraints of poor households by widening their access to resources and make them realize the advantage of choosing farm activity over non-farm activities. This in turn requires the improvement of households' access to education, special skill training, financial resources and credit service in order to address issues like population density, asset depletion, and livelihood insecurity |
