Working Paper

Quantifying the Road Influence Zone on Socio-economic Development in Rural Tigray, Ethiopia

Rural roads are very important for economic development, especially in rural areas. Empirical studies confirmed that rural roads provide safe and efficient human mobility, enhance access to markets for inputs such as fertilizers and improved seeds, enable framers to sell their produce to nearby markets through a reduction in transport fare and time, and allow farmers to achieve additional non-farm employment opportunities, leading to a rise in income and reduce poverty. Road influence zone, which is defined as the area in which significant ecological, environmental and socio economic effects extend outward from a road, has been used to analyze influence of roads on ecological and environmental effects of road but not on socio economic conditions. We measured the extent and type of relationship underlying the road-influence zone of rural roads on socio economic outcomes. Both positive and negative socio economic effects of roads are used for analysis. Accordingly, for the positive socio economic outcomes, four indicators namely trip per capita, use of fertilizers, motorized transport and commercial activities; and for negative effects of roads, three indicators road dust, flooding and erosion, have been used in the analysis.