TITLE:
Employment Patterns in Clusters of Foreign Agricultural Investments Farms in Rural Areas
AUTHORS:
Festo Maro, Rikke Broegaard, Evelyne Lazaro, Khamaldin Mutabazi, Helle Munk Ravnborg
KEYWORDS:
Foreign Land-Based Agricultural Investments, Employment, Household Poverty, Multiple Correspondence Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.7,
July
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: Employment outcomes from foreign land-based
agricultural investments (FAI) are
contested despite existence of paucity in literature on why individuals seek such employment. This paper assesses individuals’ motives for seeking or
not seeking employment in FAI farms using multiple correspondence and cluster analysis to understand employment seeking patterns
and their association with age, gender
and household poverty. Analysis based on stratified proportionate random
cross-sectional data collected in Karatu, Iringa and Njombe districts from populations near foreign farms. Three FAI farm
employment seeking patterns were established namely individuals motivated by
lack of employment alternatives, individuals preferring FAI farm
employment and individuals who were curious to learn new knowledge, ideas and
skills. FAI employment seeking pattern was independent of age or gender but it
was significantly associated with household poverty (p = 0.05). Individuals seeking
FAI employment due to lack of employment opportunities frequently belong to
poorest households while individuals belonging to less-poor household preferred
employment for curiosity to learn. Therefore, FAI doesn’t move individual out
of poverty or make individual poor but is frequently attractive to individuals
from poorest households with limited employment opportunities while those from
less-poor household is a preferred employment for additional source of immediate
income.