This study applied a generalized propensity score method to evaluate the impact of Prosopis invasion on Afar pastoralist and agro-pastoralist households’ annual per capita consumption expenditure, as a proxy of rural livelihoods. The analysis was based on cross-sectional survey data collected in mid-2016 from 250 households in the Afar National Regional State in Ethiopia. The method was applied to match households with similar covariates with different Prosopis invasion levels. The method was effective in teasing out non-linear causal relationships between Prosopis invasion dose and household per capita consumption expenditure. Average dose-response or impact function was obtained by estimating average annual household per capita consumption expenditure at different levels of Prosopis invasion. Initially, the plants’ impact was positive, but turned negative after an optimum invasion dose. The optimal invasion dose of Prosopis was found to be 22.23%. The corresponding optimum level of annual household per capita consumption expenditure was found to be 4,500.50 Ethiopian Birr (USD 198). The results suggest that to maximize the benefits of Prosopis and minimize its adverse effects on the livelihoods of the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, diverse management strategies that take into account not only the intensity of invasion, but also patterns of dryland economy should be implemented.

中文翻译：

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木本外来入侵植物物种对农村生计的影响：来自Prosopis spp的广义倾向得分证据。入侵埃塞俄比亚阿法尔地区

这项研究采用广义倾向评分法评估了Prosopis入侵对Afar牧民家庭和农牧民家庭年人均消费支出的影响，以此作为农村生计的替代指标。该分析基于2016年中期从埃塞俄比亚阿法尔民族地区州的250户家庭收集的横断面调查数据。该方法适用于匹配具有相似Prosopis入侵级别的相似协变量的家庭。该方法有效地解决了Prosopis入侵剂量与家庭人均消费支出之间的非线性因果关系。通过估计不同程度的Prosopis入侵下的家庭平均年人均消费支出来获得平均剂量反应或影响函数。最初，工厂的影响是积极的，但在最佳侵袭剂量后变为阴性。发现Prosopis的最佳侵袭剂量为22.23％。相应的家庭年人均消费支出的最佳水平为4,500.50埃塞俄比亚比尔（198美元）。结果表明，为了最大程度地提高Prosopis的利益，并最大程度地减少Prosopis对牧区和农牧社区生计的不利影响，应该实施不仅考虑入侵强度而且考虑旱地经济模式的多样化管理策略。 。