Highlights

• Understanding household livelihood strategies is pivotal to minimize rural poverty in the developing country.

• The findings suggested that Livelihood Strategies to Agriculture only activities are common among the majority of rural households.

• The increasing dominance of the non-farm sector in rural livelihood reduces reliance on agriculture.

• In the study area, the most common coping mechanisms were seeking assistance from the government/NGOs (35.2%) and taking on more paid work (26.6%).

Abstract

Livelihood sustainability is critical in the development process. The general objective of analyzing the livelihood choices of farming HHs in the study area as; Agriculture only (Y₀), Agriculture and Off-Farm (Y₁), Agriculture Plus Off-farm (Y₂), and Agriculture Plus Off-farm Plus Non-farm (Y₃) through three specific objectives viz; to assess the trends and patterns of livelihoods, to investigate the factors that hinder the capabilities of farming HHs to ensure their livelihoods sustainably and to find out the adopted coping strategies in the study area. For this study150 HHHs were selected from three different agro-ecologies that prevail in the study area by PPS through a simple random sampling method. The quantitative data were collected using a semi-structured interview schedule. In contrast, the qualitative data were collected using a checklist through focus group discussions (FGD) and key informant interviewers (KII). The quantitative data analysis was done by applying descriptive and inferential statistics. The significance of every explanatory variable upon the dependent variable was tested by a multi-nominal logit model using analyzes in SPSS version 21. Out of the 18 independent variables used in this study, the following independent variables affected the livelihood strategies adopted by the sample units in different probability levels (less than 1%,5%, and 10%) depending upon the livelihood options (Y₀/Y₁/Y₂/Y₃) adopted by the sampling units. They were; sex of the household head, educational level of the HHHs, the family size, land size, frequency of extension contacts, credit use, input use, membership in a cooperative, receiving remittance, radio ownership, the number of oxen owned by the farming household, irrigation availability, farmers perception toward soil fertility, and annual Income of HHs. To achieve long-term/sustainable livelihood outcomes in the area, policies and actions aimed at improving the livelihoods of communities should prioritize rural infrastructure expansion, awareness-raising activities, and stakeholder collaboration.