CRC TRR 228 Project Z03
Combined Farm & Household Survey
Z03 Combined Farm/ Household Survey
Vision
Advance cross-country research on rural future-making by coordinating longitudinal data collection, enabling comparative analysis, and fostering collaborative knowledge dissemination within and beyond CRC228.
Project Summary
The Z03 project plays a key role in supporting all other CRC228 projects by coordinating and implementing quantitative farm-household surveys across all study regions. We are building a unique socio-economic panel dataset in terms of scope and distribution, which provides valuable information on the determinants and outcomes of future-making in rural Africa over time. In the second phase of the CRC228, Z03 successfully led the second wave of the farm/household survey in collaboration with seven projects, collecting panel data from almost 2,700 households across Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Namibia, as well as baseline data from 453 households in Botswana. Data of the first and second phase are currently widely used by CRC228 researchers and affiliates, publicly accessible through a central database. Building on this shared resource, Z03 organized a writing workshop at the UoC, in which partners from Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, and CRC228 researchers from Germany collaborated towards a comparative study analysing longitudinal survey data from 2019 and 2023 under the theme “Future Making in Rural Africa in Times of Crisis”. In the third phase, Z03 will support project teams in designing and implementing new data-collection efforts, coordinate data processing and documentation, and facilitate cross-country comparative analyses. A key focus is the rollout of a third wave of the farm-household survey to create a three-wave panel dataset (2019, 2023, 2027). This unique socio-economic panel will enable the CRC228 and future research initiatives to better analyse trends and temporal dynamics as well as causal relationships between determinants and outcomes of rural future-making in and across the CRC228’s study areas. A special focus of the third wave will be on the linkage between future-making in our study areas and different global processes, such as foreign direct investment as well as globalized commodity and financial markets. Beyond supporting data collection and data use, Z03 will facilitate cross-country and cross-partner collaboration towards leveraging the three waves of survey data (2019, 2023, and planned 2027) for publications and knowledge dissemination. This will include taking a leading role in organizing a writing workshop and coordinating community-outreach events in collaboration with local partners and stakeholders. The events will focus on sharing research findings, fostering collaborative discussions, and addressing topics relevant to local interests and challenges.
Research Regions: Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia.
Problem Statement
Across the CRC’s study areas, projects work on overarching research questions, such as:
- Under what conditions can conservation and agricultural intensification contribute to rural well-being poverty alleviation?
- What are the impacts of agricultural intensification and infrastructure on rural wealth and the environment?
- How are educational status/gender/age of individuals related to household decisions and related outcomes?
- How is migration linked to future-making processes?
- What role do shocks play in aspiration formation?
Answering these questions requires a systematic approach to longitudinal farm-household data collection.
Poject Plan for 3rd Phase
Project Plan for 3rd phase
► Conducting a third wave of the CRC 228 household survey in 2027 by revisiting the households surveyed in the baseline and second waves.
► The project will first focus on questionnaire development, followed by survey planning and survey implementation
► The survey will help answering the following overarching research questions:
- How do conservation, intensification, and infrastructuring interact and shape future-making and social-ecological transformation?
- How do uncertainties and disturbances affect these practices and social-ecological systems?
- How does future-making link visions, possibilities, and probabilities, shaped by agents’ positionalities?
- What do these insights reveal for a critical understanding of “development”?
- How is future-making shaped by global processes such as foreign direct investment and globalized commodity and financial markets?
► Community-outreach events in collaboration with local partners in 2029
Main Findings from 2nd Phase
► Z03 supports all CRC228 projects by coordinating and implementing farm-household surveys across study regions.
► It builds a unique socio-economic panel dataset tracking future-making in rural Africa over time.
► In phase two, Z03 led the second wave of surveys with seven projects, collecting data from almost
2,700 households in four countries.
► Baseline data were also collected from 453 households in Botswana.
► Data from both phases are widely used and publicly accessible via the CRC228 database.
► Z03 organized a writing workshop for cross-country collaboration on longitudinal analysis of 2019 and 2023 data.
Work Plan and Methods
- Semi-structured questionnaires cover village as well as household level characteristics to address both comparative and project-specific research questions
- Questionnaires consist of a general section, covering the same basic farm-household characteristics in all four study areas, and a set of study area specific sections
- Sample sizes, sampling strategies, and questionnaire sections (thematic areas) may differ across study areas and wave given project-specific requirements
- Several survey meetings are fostering the collaborative design of the survey, the collection, and subsequently the use of primary data
- The survey provides a basis for both region-specific research and cross-region comparisons using empirical research approaches and modelling.
Cooperation within the CRC
Z03 supports CRC228 by coordinating the collection, processing, and delivery of high quality, interdisciplinary survey data for use across multiple projects. A postdoctoral researcher oversees questionnaire design, fieldwork, and data management. In each region, two doctoral students from different sub-projects (A01, A04, B0, B06, C01, C02, C03, and C08) support field implementation. Z03 also contributes data products to the exhibition project (Z05).
Publications
a) Peer-reviewed publications and books
Angelsen, A., Jagger, P., Babigumira, R. Belcher, B., Hogarth, N., Bauch, S., Börner, J., Smith-Hall, C., Wunder, S. 2014. ‘Environmental Income and Rural Livelihoods: A Global-Comparative Analysis’ World Development, vol. 64, Supplement 1, pp. 12-S28.
Börner, J., Shively, G., Wunder, S., Wyman, M. 2015. ‘How do rural households cope with economic shocks? Insights from global data using hierarchical analysis’ Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 66 no. 2, pp. 392–414.
Hartmann, G., Nduru, G., Dannenberg, P. 2020.’ Digital connectivity at the upstream end of value chains: A dynamic perspective on smartphone adoption amongst horticultural smallholders in Kenya. Competition & Change (online first)’. DOI
Hartmann G, Nduru G, & Dannenberg, P. 2020. ‘Digital connectivity at the upstream end of value chains: A dynamic perspective on smartphone adoption amongst horticultural smallholders in Kenya.’ Competition & Change (Online first). DOI
Tabe-Ojong, M.P. & Nshakira-Rukundo, E. 2021. ‘Religiosity and parental educational aspirations for children in Kenya,’ World Development Perspectives, Volume 23, 100349. DOI
Tabe-Ojong, M.P., Gebrekidan, B.H., Nshakira-Rukundo, E., Börner, J., & Heckelei, T. 2022. ‘COVID-19 in rural Africa: Food access disruptions, food insecurity and coping strategies in Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania‘, Agricultural Economics, pp. 1– 20. DOI Full Text
Willkomm, M., Follmann, A. & Dannenberg, P. 2020. ‘Between Replacement and Intensification: Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Different Land Use Types of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture under Rapid Urban Growth in Nakuru, Kenya,’ The Professional Geographer. DOI
Woldeyohanes, TB, Heckelei, T., Surry, Y 2017. ‘Effect of off-farm income on smallholder commercialization: panel evidence from rural households in Ethiopia’, Agricultural Economics, vol. 48 no.2, pp. 207-218.
b.) Other publications, both peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed
Greiner, C., Greven, D. & Klagge, B. 2021. ‘Roads to change: Livelihoods, land disputes, and anticipation of future developments in rural Kenya’, European Journal of Development Research. Link
Team Members
Prof. Dr. Ayana Angassa Abdeta
Partner
Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Agnes Chimyama
Partner
University of Zambia
