Rural Income Generation and Diversification - A Case Study ... - Doria

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more likely to use fertilisers and ox-draft power than those cultivating smaller areas. They
ranked highest in terms of total income and in the proportion of farm income, and were less
likely to be headed by a woman.
Table 15. Household characteristics by cultivated land area.
2 ha Mean
household size 5.1 6.0 7.3 6.1
number of adults 3.3 4.0 4.6 4.0
dependence ratio 0.60 0.63 0.67 0.64
schooling%* 69 78 78 75
female hh head % 41 29 17 29
size of landholdings, ha 2.16 3.77 5.11 3.70
cultivated land, ha 0.68 1.54 2.99 1.73
cultivated land/adult, ha 0.26 0.49 0.74 0.49
distance to Chipata, km 127 137 147 136
total income 1,005,767 1,477,814 2,451,666 1,640,701
value of assets, ZMK 997,000 917,000 2,319,000 1,423,449
farm income as % of total 66 69 76 70
using fertiliser % 23 37 60 40
using oxen % 20 17 52 28
*proportion of school-aged children going to school
Source: the researcher’s own dataset 2003.
The area of cultivated land seemed to be closely related to the total income the household
generated. A correlation analysis of the cultivated land and certain variables revealed some
statistically-significant relationships. The correlation coefficient between the area of cultivated
land, and the number of adults in the family was positive and significant at the 0.01
level, as was the participation index. There were also positive correlations with the value the
household assets (at the 0.05 level) and distance to the capital (at the 0.1 level). There was a
negative correlation between the land and household’s vulnerability index at the 0.1 level.
The correlation coefficients and the figures in Table 15 suggest that ox ploughing increased
the cultivated land area, as did the number of adults in the household. Female-headed and
highly vulnerable households cultivated smaller areas. Moreover, the areas increased in size
the longer the distance to the provincial capital, which may imply higher population pressure
on land in the vicinity of the capital. The asset wealth of the household also had a positive
effect on the area of cultivated land, which may reflect the contribution of oxen and oxdrawn
implements to the total asset value. The participation variable describes the social activity
of the household, the higher activity meaning a larger area of cultivated land.
The aim of the Zambian Land Act of 1995 was to improve the land-registration process.
However, only five per cent of the land owned by the studied households was covered by