Off-Farm Employment and Rural Household Welfare: Evidence from Northern Uganda

Off-Farm Employment and Rural Household Welfare: Evidence from Northern Uganda | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Off-Farm Employment and Rural Household Welfare: Evidence from Northern Uganda Henry Orach This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9175352/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines the role of off-farm employment in improving rural household welfare in Northern Uganda. Using cross-sectional data from 826 rural households, the study applies the Heckman two-step selection model to address potential selection bias in estimating the impact of off-farm participation on household food expenditure. The results show that access to education, household size, and proximity to markets significantly influence participation in off-farm employment. Participation in off-farm activities is found to have a positive and significant effect on household food expenditure, suggesting improved food security and welfare outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of income diversification strategies in rural areas. The study recommends policies that enhance access to education, rural infrastructure, and labor market opportunities to support off-farm employment and strengthen rural livelihoods in Northern Uganda. Off-farm employment Rural income diversification Food expenditure Household welfare Uganda Rural development policy Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sichuan Agricultural University, China, under approval number 2024-IRB-005. Additional local administrative clearance and community-level approvals were obtained in Northern Uganda prior to data collection. Participant Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their inclusion in the study. Participants were assured of confidentiality and anonymity, and their participation was entirely voluntary. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9175352","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":618000752,"identity":"e425afee-f6ac-4d4b-b11c-c84432f7c234","order_by":0,"name":"Henry Orach","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJACZsYGEMXY+ABI8vCRoIX5sAFICxsJWtjSJMAUIeX80ocffi7cYZNnPiPHrPJrjp0MGwPzw0c38GiR7Eszlp55Jq1Y5kaO2W3ZbclAh7EZG+fg0WJwhsGMmbftcOIMCaAWyW3MQC08bNL4tbB/A2r5D9ZSLLmtnhgtPCBbDgC1pKUxftx2mLAWyR6eYmnetuTEGTyPD0szbjvOw8ZMwC/8POwbP/O22SXOYE9s/PhzW7U9P3vzw8f4tCCAQAIDMw+IwUyUcrB9BxgYfxCtehSMglEwCkYSAACE/EG4IR4ehAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Sichuan Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Henry","middleName":"","lastName":"Orach","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-20 06:08:23","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9175352/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9175352/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106726890,"identity":"48b754ba-d2cd-4a22-bafa-9724d8ed5222","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-12 18:37:32","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":681538,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"OffFarmEmploymentandRuralHouseholdWelfareUgandaupdated77.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9175352/v1_covered_3dd94aeb-ca50-43e6-a58e-90f74736a677.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eNo competing interests reported.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEthics Approval Statement: This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sichuan Agricultural University, China, under approval number 2024-IRB-005. 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