Charcoal income as a means to a valuable end: Scope and limitations of income from rural charcoal production to alleviate acute multidimensional poverty
This study used primary data from an important charcoal supplying region in southern Mozambique
Abstract
The charcoal industry is among the most important semiformal economic sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa and a key cash income source for local households who produce it. This has intensified the debate as to the role of income from charcoal production in the alleviation of rural poverty.
While in a number of cases charcoal production has been identified as a potential alleviator of monetary poverty, this paper takes as its departure point a lack of analysis on the effect of charcoal income on acute multidimensional poverty (AMP). This is understood as the inability of household members to meet minimum national and international standards and core functionings.
This study used primary data from an important charcoal supplying region in southern Mozambique (N = 312).
This work was supported by the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme
Citation
Vollmer, F., Zorilla-Miras, P., Baumert, S., Luz, A.Catarina, Woollen, E., Grundy, I., Artur, L., Ribeiro, N., Mahamane, M., Patenaude, G., Charcoal income as a means to a valuable end: Scope and limitations of income from rural charcoal production to alleviate acute multidimensional poverty, World Development Perspectives, vol.7-8, pp.43-60, 2017