Employment Patterns in Clusters of Foreign Agricultural Investments Farms in Rural Areas

Employment outcomes from foreign land-based agricultural investments (FAI)
are contested despite existence of paucity in literature on why individuals seek
such employment. This paper assesses individuals’ motives for seeking or not
seeking employment in FAI farms using multiple correspondence and cluster
analysis to understand employment seeking patterns and their association with
age, gender and household poverty. Analysis based on stratified proportionate
random cross-sectional data collected in Karatu, Iringa and Njombe districts
from populations near foreign farms. Three FAI farm employment seeking
patterns were established namely individuals motivated by lack of employment
alternatives, individuals preferring FAI farm employment and individuals
who were curious to learn new knowledge, ideas and skills. FAI employment
seeking pattern was independent of age or gender but it was significantly
associated with household poverty (p = 0.05). Individuals seeking FAI
employment due to lack of employment opportunities frequently belong to
poorest households while individuals belonging to less-poor household preferred employment for curiosity to learn. Therefore, FAI doesn’t move individual out of poverty or make individual poor but is frequently attractive to
individuals from poorest households with limited employment opportunities
while those from less-poor household is a preferred employment for additional
source of immediate income.