The environment is often very harsh. They lack money to buy better seeds and fertilizer. As herders they cover long distances to find food and water for their animals. The need to follow rainfalls and the need to find appropriate pasture for their animals constrain them in having access to public services such as health and education. Landless people, indigenous people, tribes and displaced people are often among the poorest of the poor.
Women are sometimes the principal earners in very poor households.
War, migration of male members for jobs, changing marriage, bridewealth and dowry customs, and premature deaths put them in such responsibilities. Poor rural women often do not own land, and they do not have resources to earn enough for themselves and their children. Access to financial resources is also difficult, when loans require a man's signature or land title as collateral. Use of child labour is more common in female than male headed households. This reduces the educational and life earning opportunities of the child and perpetuate the poverty cycle.