Living Off the Road

This book analyses rural people's diversification of their livelihood portfolios through roadside trading activities which draw on the exploitation of common property resources (CPRs). The impact of the use of CPRs in pursuit of positive livelihood outcomes was explored. Qualitative methodologies were employed to explore resource endowment of the rural households and the strategies they invent in order to earn a living. The Livelihoods framework and the actor-oriented perspective (AOP)were the analytical tools employed to understand the phenomena under study. The findings revealed that rural households were managing to meet their daily needs with some getting incomes well above the poverty datum line and consumption needs of rural households.