DOI: 10.36347/sjebm.2017.v04i06.004

Pages: 386-390

This study analysed the socio-economic determinants of poverty among rural farmers in Ward 31 of Makoni district in Zimbabwe using primary data collected using a structured questionnaire from a random sample of 103 farm households. The study adopted the basic needs approach in identifying poor and non-poor households. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the binary logistic regression analysis. 75% of the sample households were male headed and the average age of the head of household was 53.28 years. The average household size was 6.55 and 49% of the household were classified as poor based on their failure to meet their monthly basic needs. The result of the binary logistic regression analysis show that the probability of a household being poor reduces with male headed households, age of the head of household, household size, life skills training, distance to nearest economic niche, total cropping area, maize production and total livelihood options. On the other hand, the probability of a household being poor is higher for households with self-employed head of households. The study recommends that the government must promote life skills training as a viable poverty alleviation strategy for diversifying the livelihood options available for rural households. The government must also identify strategies that help address the poverty vulnerability of female headed households as the result clearly shows that female headed households had a higher probability of being poor.