DETERMINANTS OF POVERTY OF ZOBA MAEKEL OF ERITREA: A HOUSEHOLD LEVEL ANALYSIS

This paper uses household level data collected from November 2010 to December 2011 for 303 respondents to examine probable determinants of poverty status employing descriptive analysis and Probit models. The descriptive result of mean per capita food expenditure (MPKFE) in ZobaMaekel of Eritrea found that all the households’ heads are poor. The result of Probit analysis shows that poverty status is strongly associated with almost all variables used. Education level, type of resident, size of land, number of meal, remittance, access of credit from relatives, credit institutions, opinion to credit, rain fed crop, irrigated crop, income from agriculture and income from -non-agriculture were found to be negatively associated with food self-sufficiency as a proxy of poverty. However, family number, number of children, children at school age and rent of land highly positively related to poverty. For instance, higher levels of educational attainment will provide higher levels of welfare for the household. Education is not sufficient condition to escape from poverty. This indicates that there are other factors which affect poverty of a household in conjunction with education. There is a need for providing complementary factors alongside with education to alleviate poverty. Remittance is a good indicator of poverty, showing strong family ties within Eritrean society, the fact that Eritrea does not have social security system it may help to pursue policies which foster cultural ties and family networks as part of poverty alleviating endeavor. Polices to enhance social capital should be stressed more.