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Table 41: How well-off households perceive themselves now and five years ago,Kilosa District, 2010VariablesSufficient income tocover household needYesIncome compared toneighboursIncome compared to 5 yearsago% % %Reasona No Worse About Bette Less Aboutblyoff average r off well off thesameBetteroffnowLunenzi 40 33 28 24 52 24 17 21 62Nyali 28 30 42 26 56 18 33 32 35Masugu 17 25 58 40 52 8 47 30 23Poor 22 36 41 34 52 14 33 29 38Medium 31 28 41 31 50 19 33 21 47Less poor 31 24 46 25 58 17 32 32 36Total 28 29 43 30 53 17 33 27 40The outcomes show that quite strikingly, those less poor had a significantly higherincome in all income sources and were by this also best suited in times of shocks andcrisis. Between our villages some variations were also noticeable. Whereas Lunenzidepended the most on agriculture (70%), Nyali was slightly less dependent on it(63%) and got a larger share of their income from the forest. However Masugu wasthe village which got most of its income from forest resources, in fact it accounted forover half of their total income. In turn agricultural income was less important,contributing to only 26% of their total income and also being quite lower than inNyali and Lunenzi. Since the less poor households have more income, and a morediversified income, they are also better adapted in terms of shocks and incomeshortfalls. When looking at the livelihood context, the concept of vulnerability istherefore important.7.3 Vulnerability and risksBy vulnerability we refer to a situation with high degree of exposure to risk, shocksand stress. “Vulnerability has the dual aspect of external threats to livelihood securitydue to risk factors such as climate, markets, or sudden disasters, and internal copingcapability determined by assets, food stores, support from kin or community and soon” (Ellis 2000, p.62).To meet such vulnerability contexts, Ellis (2000) argues that individuals andhouseholds pursue diversification as a livelihood strategy. He further divides such204