The effect of Water Fetching and Firewood Collection on Rural Non-agricultural Employment of Ethiopia

Abstract

Water fetching and firewood collection activities are part of the daily routine of many households in rural Ethiopia. The majority of Ethiopian households have no access to drinking water and household energy infrastructure. Households travel long distances and spent large amounts of time every day to collect water and firewood. Furthermore, water fetchers and firewood collectors are usually agricultural and non-agricultural laborers in Ethiopia. This would affect the labor hours allocated to agricultural and non-agricultural activities and hence the production and productivity of these activities are enormously affected. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of water fetching and firewood collection on non-agricultural participation of rural households of Ethiopia. The main dataset for this study is sourced from Ethiopian rural socio-economic survey (ERSS). ERSS was conducted in 2011-2012 by Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency (CSA) in collaboration with the World Bank. The survey covers 3,969 sampled households living in rural and small towns of the country. The study find out that rural household of Ethiopia allocated large amount of labor hours for water fetching and firewood collection. On average rural households spent 0.64 hours and 0.58 hours per day for water fetching and firewood collection respectively. On the other hand, urban household spent 0.15 hours and 0.1 hours for water fetching and firewood collection respectively. Female members of the household spent larger amount time for both water fetching and firewood collection relative to male. The study also find out that labor spent for water fetching and firewood collection activity is negatively and significantly affects non-agricultural employment. Households who spent more labor hours for water fetching have 19.8% less likely to engage into non-agricultural activities relative to other household who spent less time for water fetching. On the other hand, households who spent more labor hours for firewood collection have 13.9% less likely to engage into non-agricultural activities relative to household who spent less time for the same activities.