Risk preferences as determinants of soil conservation decisions in Ethiopia
(2011) In Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 66(2). p.87-96- Abstract
- Soil degradation is one of the most serious environmental problems in the highlands of Ethiopia. The prevalence of traditional agricultural land use and the absence of appropriate resource management often result in the degradation of natural soil fertility. This has important implications for soil productivity, household food security, and poverty. Given the extreme vulnerability of farmers in this area, we hypothesized that farmers' risk preferences might affect the sustainability of resource use. This study presents experimental results on the willingness of farmers to take risks and relates the subjective risk preferences to actual soil conservation decisions. The study looked at a random sample of 143 households with 597 farming... (More)
- Soil degradation is one of the most serious environmental problems in the highlands of Ethiopia. The prevalence of traditional agricultural land use and the absence of appropriate resource management often result in the degradation of natural soil fertility. This has important implications for soil productivity, household food security, and poverty. Given the extreme vulnerability of farmers in this area, we hypothesized that farmers' risk preferences might affect the sustainability of resource use. This study presents experimental results on the willingness of farmers to take risks and relates the subjective risk preferences to actual soil conservation decisions. The study looked at a random sample of 143 households with 597 farming plots. We found that a high degree of risk aversion significantly decreases the probability of adopting soil conservation. This implies that reducing farmers' risk exposure could promote soil conservation practices and thus more sustainable natural resource management. This might be achieved by improving tenure security, promoting access to extension services and education, and developing income-generating off-farm activities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4448670
- author
- Teklewold, H and Kohlin, G
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- adoption, Ethiopia, risk preference, soil conservation
- in
- Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
- volume
- 66
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 87 - 96
- publisher
- SOIL WATER CONSERVATION SOC
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84861043719
- ISSN
- 0022-4561
- DOI
- 10.2489/jswc.66.2.87
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 6509103c-d560-4106-816e-11c51008f561 (old id 4448670)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:37:13
- date last changed
- 2022-04-14 02:10:02
@article{6509103c-d560-4106-816e-11c51008f561,
abstract = {{Soil degradation is one of the most serious environmental problems in the highlands of Ethiopia. The prevalence of traditional agricultural land use and the absence of appropriate resource management often result in the degradation of natural soil fertility. This has important implications for soil productivity, household food security, and poverty. Given the extreme vulnerability of farmers in this area, we hypothesized that farmers' risk preferences might affect the sustainability of resource use. This study presents experimental results on the willingness of farmers to take risks and relates the subjective risk preferences to actual soil conservation decisions. The study looked at a random sample of 143 households with 597 farming plots. We found that a high degree of risk aversion significantly decreases the probability of adopting soil conservation. This implies that reducing farmers' risk exposure could promote soil conservation practices and thus more sustainable natural resource management. This might be achieved by improving tenure security, promoting access to extension services and education, and developing income-generating off-farm activities.}},
author = {{Teklewold, H and Kohlin, G}},
issn = {{0022-4561}},
keywords = {{adoption; Ethiopia; risk preference; soil conservation}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{87--96}},
publisher = {{SOIL WATER CONSERVATION SOC}},
series = {{Journal of Soil and Water Conservation}},
title = {{Risk preferences as determinants of soil conservation decisions in Ethiopia}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2489/jswc.66.2.87}},
doi = {{10.2489/jswc.66.2.87}},
volume = {{66}},
year = {{2011}},
}