Factors affecting the choice of livelihood strategies in rural areas of Zharai District, Kandahar province, Afghanistan

The study of livelihood strategies plays an important role in the analysis of poverty reduction policies and the development of livelihood assets. This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the choice of livelihood strategies in rural areas of Zharai District, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. The required data were gathered from 384 heads of household within 11 villages. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that included questions to measure the types of livelihood assets and livelihood strategies. The results of the one-sample t-test showed only social capital is in a favorable condition. The results of factor analysis lead to the classification of livelihood strategies and the extraction of four livelihood groups including "livelihood strategy based on agriculture and natural resources", "livelihood strategy based on self-employment", "wage-based livelihood strategy" and "external aid-based livelihood strategy". The multinominal logit model was estimated in three models. In the first model, the results showed that the likelihood of choosing livelihood based on agriculture and natural resources (as opposed to livelihoods based on external aid) increases with the improvement in natural capital. In the second model, the results indicated that the likelihood of choosing self-employed livelihood (as opposed to external aid-based livelihoods) increases with improvement in human, social and physical capitals. In the third model, the results showed that the likelihood of choosing a wage-based livelihood (as opposed to livelihood based on external aid) increases with the improvement in social capital. The development of various agricultural processing industries is proposed as alternative livelihood strategies.