Impact of sedentarization program on the livelihood and food security of Ethiopian pastoralists

The debate among the academia, development practitioners, policy makers and large communities on the viability of pastoral sedentarization as an adaptation mechanism against climate change stresses in the drylands remains inconclusive. This study empirically investigated the livelihood and food security impact of government's sedentarization program implemented in the drylands of Ethiopia since 2002 by using the propensity score matching method. Results show that participation in the sedentarization program is significantly and positively influenced by education, road distance and extension services, but negatively affected by family size, livestock owned and town distance. Moreover, the results show that the program has significantly increased expenditure on education and sources of income by 293% and 40.49%, respectively, but significantly decreased percentage expenditure on food by 13.45%. The groups are markedly alike with regard to their annual per capita income, expenditure on health and dietary diversity. This study concludes that pastoral sedentarization improved the livelihood of participants, but worsened their food security situation with its overall welfare effect remaining indeterminate.