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Coping with Fuelwood Scarcity: Household Responses in Rural Ethiopia

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  • Damte, Abebe
  • Koch, Steven F.
  • Mekonnen, Alemu

Abstract

This study uses survey data from randomly selected rural households in Ethiopia to examine the coping mechanisms employed by rural households to deal with fuelwood scarcity. The determinants of collecting other biomass energy sources were also examined. The results of the empirical analysis show that rural households in forest-degraded areas respond to fuelwood shortages by increasing their labor input for fuelwood collection. However, for households in high forest cover regions, forest stock and forest access may be more important factors than scarcity of fuelwood in determining household’s labor input to collect it. The study also finds that there is limited evidence of substitution between fuelwood and dung, or fuelwood and crop residue. Therefore, supply-side strategies alone may not be effective in addressing the problem of forest degradation and biodiversity loss. Any policy on natural resource management, especially related to rural energy, should distinguish regions with different levels of forest degradation.

Suggested Citation

  • Damte, Abebe & Koch, Steven F. & Mekonnen, Alemu, 2012. "Coping with Fuelwood Scarcity: Household Responses in Rural Ethiopia," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-01-efd, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-12-01-efd
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    Cited by:

    1. Scheurlen, Elena, 2015. "Time allocation to energy resource collection in rural Ethiopia: Gender-disaggregated household responses to changes in firewood availability:," IFPRI discussion papers 1419, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Krishnapriya, P.P. & Chandrasekaran, Maya & Jeuland, Marc & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K., 2021. "Do improved cookstoves save time and improve gender outcomes? Evidence from six developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Guta, Dawit Diriba, 2014. "Effect of fuelwood scarcity and socio-economic factors on household bio-based energy use and energy substitution in rural Ethiopia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 217-227.
    4. Muuz Hadush, 2018. "Welfare and food security response of animal feed and water resource scarcity in Northern Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, December.
    5. St. Clair, Priscilla Cooke, 2016. "Community forest management, gender and fuelwood collection in rural Nepal," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 52-71.
    6. Belete Debebe & Feyera Senbeta & Ermias Teferi & Dawit Diriba & Demel Teketay, 2023. "Analysis of Forest Cover Change and Its Drivers in Biodiversity Hotspot Areas of the Semien Mountains National Park, Northwest Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.
    7. Muuz Hadush, 2017. "Implication of Animal Feed and Water Scarcity on Labor Allocation, Food Production and Per Capita Food Consumption in Tigrai Region, Ethiopia," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 59-93, December.
    8. O’Brien, James & Do, Phoebe & Edelson, Micaela, 2021. "The effects of fuelwood on children’s schooling in rural Vietnam," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    9. Phosiso Sola & Caroline Ochieng & Jummai Yila & Miyuki Iiyama, 2016. "Links between energy access and food security in sub Saharan Africa: an exploratory review," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(3), pages 635-642, June.
    10. Gebrehiwot , Tagel & Hassen, Sied, 2022. "Impact of Energy Access on Food Security and Child Nutrition: Panel Data Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," EfD Discussion Paper 22-11, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fuelwood; labor allocation; biomass; rural Ethiopia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • Q21 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources

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