Tropentag, October 6 - 8, 2009 in Hamburg "Biophysical and Socio-economic Frame Conditions for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources"

Poverty Determinants in the Rainfed Traditional Farms in Western Sudan: Rural Kordofan State

¹University of Gezira, Rural Economics and Development, Sudan
²Sudan University for Sciences and Technology, Basic Sciences, Sudan
³Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Project and Regionalplanning, Germany

Abstract

This paper attempted to assess the extent of poverty situation in rural Sudan. It was conducted in the traditional rainfed farming system (covering rural Kordofan Sate in western Sudan). The study relied on primary data sets collected during agricultural season 2005/2006. the aim of the study are: To establish poverty lines, indicators and profiles in the rural household focusing on the traditional farms and to identify the main causes of poverty of the poor rural tenants in traditional farms.
The results show that the incidence of poverty was higher among the rural households. However the southern parts of the traditional farms had more vulnerable than the northern parts. A household depending on farm income alone accounts for a great part of the probability of being poor. The illiterate household-headed are more vulnerable to poverty than the educated ones, and similarly, the female-headed households are poorer than the man-headed households. High incidence of poverty was also linked to poor households not having their own livestock. The poor households suffer from lack access to safe drinking water, poor health, with wide spread of diseases.
The risk of poverty was on average higher in households with a large number of individuals and of being households suffering from the ill health increase the likelihood of being in a higher poverty status category. The risk of poverty was on average lower in households with male head and young of the households head. The household of being with extra occupation and of being more working family members in the farms are reduce the likelihood of being in a higher poverty.

Keywords: Binary regression, poverty measures, Sudan

Contact Address: Hanan Mohamed Elhadi, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Project and Regionalplanning, Am Schulgarten 1, 61118 Bad Vilbel, Germany, e-mail: hananelhadiyahoo.com