The impact of income diversification among fishing communities in Western Kenya

Past studies have shown that fishing communities in developing countries are generally poor. One potential strategy for reducing poverty among these communities is income diversification. This study investigates the impact of income diversification on incomes of fishing communities living on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria. Using four propensity score matching methods, we find evidence that income diversification increases the incomes of fish workers. The strongest impact appears to be among fishers, fish enterprise employees and fish workers in the non-export beach. Based on these results, income diversification can be considered a poverty reduction strategy among fishing communities in Western Kenya.