The Role of Agricultural Land, Education, and Food Production in Shaping Family Income: An African Perspective

  • Authors

    https://doi.org/10.14419/092tzd92

    Received date: May 12, 2025

    Accepted date: June 17, 2025

    Published date: June 29, 2025

  • Africa, Agricultural land, Education, Family Income, Food production.

  • Abstract

    This study investigates whether agricultural land, education, and food production significantly impact family income. Family income is a significant economic factor representing GDP per capita and measuring the country’s economic strength. Using SPSS Statistics version 25, we have applied a multistage-linear regression stepwise model, considering family income as the dependent variable and agricultural land, education, and food production as independent variables. We have collected data from World Development Indicators through a purposive sample of five countries, namely Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia, representing all five corners of the African continent from 1991 to 2022. The results show that agricultural land, education, and food production significantly impact the family income in Ethiopia and Kenya. However, the Nigerian agrarian land is far beyond predicting the family income, as its P-value equals 0.162 > 0.05. Furthermore, in South Africa, education and food production do not significantly impact the family income, as their P-value for education and food production is 0.762 and 0.582, respectively, and both are > 0.05. Therefore, Africa needs to double its food production and education efforts compared to today's situation and the future to stimulate family income and solve food security and job opportunities issues. Hence, education must take the lead, as well as the review of land policies.

  • References

    1. Adeoti, M. O., Shamsudin, F. M., & Mohammad, A. H. M. (2020). Opportunity, job pressure and deviant workplace behaviour: does neutralisation mediate the relationship? A study of faculty members in public universities in Nigeria. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 30(2), 170–190. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-08-2017-0002
    2. Aguirre Unceta, R. (2021). The economic and social impact of mining-resources exploitation in Zambia. Resources Policy, 74(November 2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102242
    3. Anarfo, E. B., Abor, J. Y., Osei, K. A., & Gyeke-Dako, A. (2019). Financial inclusion and financial sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa: a panel VAR approach. International Journal of Managerial Finance, 15(4), 444–463. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMF-07-2018-0205
    4. Andersson Djurfeldt, A., Lane, C. R., Gyapong, A. Y., Andersson Djurfeldt, A., Lane, C. R., Income, S., Distribution, L., Jayne, T. S., Yamano, T., Weber, M., Benfica, R., Neven, D., Ndlovu, W., Mwale, M., Zuwarimwe, J., Radwan, T. M., Blackburn, G. A., Whyatt, J. D., Atkinson, P. M., … Vanlauwe, B. (2021). Assessment of sustainable land use: linking land management practices to sustainable land use indicators. Land Use Policy, 95(October 2019), 1–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2021.1926150
    5. Arayanan, A. B. N. (2020). CASH AND THE ECONOMY: EVIDENCE FROM INDIA’ S Despite an impressive body of literature on the effects of mon- etary policy, large-scale natural experiments remain rare. In this article we study a unique episode known as demonetization. On November 8, 57–103. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjz027.Advance
    6. Asiama, K. O., Voss, W., Bennett, R., & Rubanje, I. (2021). Land consolidation activities in Sub-Saharan Africa towards the agenda 2030: A tale of three countries. Land Use Policy, 101(October 2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105140
    7. Baliamoune-Lutz, M. (2020). Political Elites, Democracy, and Education. Review of Black Political Economy, 47(1), 75–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034644619865543
    8. Etikan, I. (2016). Comparison of Convenience Sampling and Purposive Sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
    9. Evans, D. K., & Mendez Acosta, A. (2021). Education in Africa: What Are We Learning? Journal of African Economies, 30(1), 13–54. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejaa009
    10. Fernando, Y., Shaharudin, M. S., & Abideen, A. Z. (2022). Circular economy-based reverse logistics: dynamic interplay between sustainable re-source commitment and financial performance. European Journal of Management and Business Economics. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-08-2020-0254
    11. Fitton, N., Alexander, P., Arnell, N., Bajzelj, B., Calvin, K., Doelman, J., Gerber, J. S., Havlik, P., Hasegawa, T., Herrero, M., Krisztin, T., van Meijl, H., Powell, T., Sands, R., Stehfest, E., West, P. C., & Smith, P. P. (2019). The vulnerabilities of agricultural land and food production to fu-ture water scarcity. Global Environmental Change, 58(July 2018), 101944. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101944
    12. Folbrer, N. (n.d.). Why are the current definitions of family income being misleading and why these matters for measures of inequality.
    13. Ghorbel, A., Loukil, S., & Bahloul, W. (2022). Connectedness between cryptocurrencies, gold and stock markets in the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Management and Business Economics. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-10-2021-0281
    14. Gyapong, A. Y. (2020). How and why large-scale agricultural land investments do not create long-term employment benefits: A critique of the ‘state’ of labour regulations in Ghana. Land Use Policy, 95(June 2019), 104651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104651
    15. Gyapong, A. Y., Andersson Djurfeldt, A., Lane, C. R., Income, S., Distribution, L., Jayne, T. S., Yamano, T., Weber, M., Benfica, R., & Neven, D. (2020). How and why large-scale agricultural land investments do not create long-term employment benefits: A critique of the ‘state’ of labour reg-ulations in Ghana. Land Use Policy, 95(October 2019), 104651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104651
    16. Gyimah-Brempong, K., Paddison, O., & Mitiku, W. (2006). Higher education and economic growth in Africa. Journal of Development Studies, 42(3), 509–529. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220380600576490
    17. Ii, B. A. B. (2017). Modernization De Facto: Structural Deformations of the Socio-Cultural Space of Russia on the Threshold of the Second Rus-sian Troubles. Oriental Studies, 2(4 (32)), 8–36.
    18. J. Joesph Francis. (2020). Business Statistics.
    19. Kalu, K. (2018). Foreign Aid and the Future of Africa. In Foreign Aid and the Future of Africa. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78987-3
    20. Keyzer, M., & Wesenbeeck, L. (2006). The Millennium Development Goals, how realistic are they? Economist, 154(3), 443–466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-006-9019-9
    21. Kozlovskyi, S., Mazur, H., Vdovenko, N., Shepel, T., & Kozlovskyi, V. (2018). Modeling and forecasting the level of state stimulation of agricul-tural production in Ukraine based on the theory of fuzzy logic. Montenegrin Journal of Economics, 14(3), 37–53. https://doi.org/10.14254/1800-5845/2018.14-3.3
    22. Kpossilande, C. E., Honfoga, B. G., & Ferre, T. (2020). Economic potentials of artisanal food processing microenterprises in West Africa: case of “atta” production in Cotonou (Benin). Agricultural and Food Economics, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-020-00168-y
    23. Maseda, A., Iturralde, T., Aparicio, G., Boulkeroua, L., & Cooper, S. (2019). Family board ownership, generational involvement and performance in family SMEs: A test of the S-shaped hypothesis. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 28(3), 285–300. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-07-2018-0071
    24. McMillan, M. (2016). Understanding African poverty over the longue durée: A review of Africa’s development in historical perspective. Journal of Economic Literature, 54(3), 893–905. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20151293
    25. Mkong, C. J., Abdoulaye, T., Dontsop-Nguezet, P. M., Bamba, Z., Manyong, V., & Shu, G. (2021). Determinant of university students’ choices and preferences of agricultural sub-sector engagement in cameroon. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(12), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126564
    26. Moreno, M., & Hector, A. (2012). The Contribution of Education to Economic Growth: A Review of the Evidence, with Special Attention and an Application to Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Development Studies, 17(3), 0–34. http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/12/18/000442464_20131218151209/Rendered/PDF/793790JRN0Natu00Box0379850B00OUO090.pdf
    27. Mortazian, M. (2022). Liquidity and Volatility of Stocks Moved from the Main Market to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, 29(2), 195–220. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10690-021-09344-6
    28. Murshed, M., Elheddad, M., Ahmed, R., Bassim, M., & Than, E. T. (2022). Foreign Direct Investments, Renewable Electricity Output, and Eco-logical Footprints: Do Financial Globalization Facilitate Renewable Energy Transition and Environmental Welfare in Bangladesh? In Asia-Pacific Financial Markets (Vol. 29, Issue 1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10690-021-09335-7
    29. Mwaniki, A. (2006). Achieving Food Security in Africa: Challenges and Issues. Strategies, 1–12. http://www.food-security.nl/sites/default/files/resource/achieving_food_security_in_africa.pdf
    30. Ndlovu, W., Mwale, M., & Zuwarimwe, J. (2021). Challenges and critical success factors for rural agrarian reforms in limpopo province, south afri-ca. Agraris, 7(2), 191–206. https://doi.org/10.18196/agraris.v7i2.11272
    31. Nziguheba, G., Adewopo, J., Masso, C., Nabahungu, N. L., Six, J., Sseguya, H., Taulya, G., & Vanlauwe, B. (2021). Assessment of sustainable land use: linking land management practices to sustainable land use indicators. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2021.1926150
    32. Odhiambo, N. M. (2022). Is export-led growth hypothesis still valid for sub-Saharan African countries? New evidence from panel data analysis. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 31(1), 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-06-2020-0156
    33. Ortiz, B., Donate, M. J., & Guadamillas, F. (2017). Relationships between structural social capital, knowledge identification capability and external knowledge acquisition. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 26(1), 48–66. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-07-2017-004
    34. Palaniappan, G. (2017). Determinants of corporate financial performance relating to board characteristics of corporate governance in Indian manu-facturing industry: An empirical study. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 26(1), 67–85. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-07-2017-005
    35. Peters, P. E. (n.d.). Challenges of Land Tenure and Reform in Africa. http://jjrawlings.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/challenges-of-land-tenure-and-reform-in-africa/
    36. Pitcher, G. (2007). Hitting the targets. New Electronics, 40(22), 33–34.
    37. Porzio, G. C. (2013). Regression analysis by example. In Journal of Applied Statistics (Vol. 40, Issue 12). https://doi.org/10.1080/02664763.2013.817041
    38. Razi, M. I. Z. (2016). Poverty in a Rising Africa.
    39. Serajuddin, U., & Hamadeh, N. (2020). New World Bank country classifications by income level: 2020-2021. In World Bank Blogs (p. 1). https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-world-bank-country-classifications-income-level-2021-2022%0Ahttps://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-world-bank-country-classifications-income-level-2020-2021
    40. Sharp, G. (2016). Food Production and Consumption. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 27(4), 117–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2016.1245915
    41. Sintayehu Kassaye, A. (2018). The meaning, idea and history of university/higher education in Africa: Al brief literature review. FIRE , Forum for International Research in Education, 4(3), 210–227. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1199154.pdf
    42. Sinthumule, N. I. (2021). Window of Economic Opportunity or Door of Exclusion? Nandoni Dam and Its Local Communities.
    43. Tsaurai, K., & Ngcobo, L. (2020). Renewable Energy Consumption, Education and Economic. International Journal of Energy Economics and Pol-icy, 10(2), 26–34.
    44. Varghese et al. (n.d.). Definitions of Family income.
    45. Zamrodah, Y. (2016). A SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION FOR AFRICA (Vol. 15, Issue 2).
    46. Zippel, C., & Sherman, A. (2021). Bolstering Family Income Is Essential to Helping Children Emerge Successfully from the Current Crisis. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities., 1–17. https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/bolstering-family-income-is-essential-to-helping-children-emerge
    47. Zvereva, E. V., Belenkova, N. M., & Kruse, I. I. (2020). From the economic union to the harmonisation of higher education in the BRICS countries: The experience of RUDN university. Space and Culture, India, 7(5), 60–69. https://doi.org/10.20896/SACI.V7I5.671

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    NZASABAYEZU, O., Jaya Prakash, S. K., Rajagopalan , K. K. ., Aluvala, R. ., Guru, S. ., & Tiwari, S. . (2025). The Role of Agricultural Land, Education, and Food Production in Shaping Family Income: An African Perspective. International Journal of Accounting and Economics Studies, 12(2), 311-320. https://doi.org/10.14419/092tzd92