DETERMINANTS OF SUBSISTENCE FARMERS PARTICIPATION TO NON-FARM ACTIVITIES IN ITANG SPECIAL DISTRICT, GAMBELLA REGION, ETHIOPIA

— The subsistence farmers are highly relying on
farming activities as the main source of survival in Gambella
region particularly in Itang Special District. Thisthreatens the
livelihood of most subsistence farmers in the district. The aim
of the study was to examine determinants ofsubsistence
farmers’ participation to non-farm activities in the study area.
Multistage sampling technique was used to choose the study
area and participants. The data werecollected from 150
randomly selected subsistence farmers in the study area.
These data were collected through households’ interview and
document analysis. Moreover, the data were analyzed by
using mean, standard deviation, percentage, frequency, chisquare test, t-test and binary logistic regression model. A
result found that trading livestock, selling wild products,
craftsman,trading of food and drinks and employed in
organizations were the main non-farm activities among the
subsistence farmers in the study area. In addition, the credit
access, access to remittance, transport access, market access,
skill training, livestock holding size and income influence the
participation of households to non-farm activities. The
concerned bodies need to strengthen the local institutions and
alternative activities in the study area.

在甘巴拉地区，尤其是伊唐特别区，自给自足的农民高度依赖农业生产作为生存的主要手段。然而，此种状况对区域大部分自给自足农民的生计构成了威胁。本研究的目的是探讨研究区域内自给自足农民参与非农活动的决定因素。本研究采用了多阶段抽样技术来选择研究区域及参与者。数据采集自研究区域内随机选取的150位自给自足农民。数据收集主要通过家庭访谈和文献分析完成。此外，数据通过均值、标准差、百分比、频率、卡方检验、t检验和二元逻辑回归模型进行分析。研究发现，在研究区域内的自给自足农民中，主要的非农活动包括牲畜交易、野生产品销售、手工艺制作、食品和饮料交易以及在企业中就业。此外，信贷获取、汇款获取、交通获取、市场获取、技能培训、牲畜饲养规模和收入等因素均对家庭参与非农活动的影响显著。因此，相关部门需加强研究区域内的本地机构和替代活动。