Factors affecting Income Strategies among households in Tanzanian Coastal Villages: Implications for Development-conservation initiatives

This paper applies Tobit models to investigate factors that explain households’ decision-making on whether or not to participate in various activities, using household data collected from two Tanzanian coastal villages (Mlingotini and Nyamanzi). The results indicate that households’ decision to participate in various activities is significantly influenced by asset endowments, households’ structure, local institutions, and location- specific characteristics of both villages. In addition, these results reveal that fishing assets entitlements and access influence are the main determinants for variation in total household’s income. Taken together, the findings show existence of households’ heterogeneity in making choices among different activities, which should be considered by policymakers when designing conservation-development policies in coastal areas.