Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...

With regard to the floors, the houses are even divided between those with dirt floors (49
percent) and those with tile or cement floors (48 percent). Houses with brick, stone, or
wood floors are quite rare.
Close of three-quarters of the houses (72 percent) have sheet-metal rooves. Practically all
the remaining houses have roofs made of straw.
Fully 86 percent of the dwellings are owned by the farm household. Most of the other
houses (12 percent) and very few (2 percent) are rented.
The housing characteristics do vary, however, by region. For example, houses in Mono and Ouémé
are more diverse in terms of wall materials. Houses with brick or stone walls are more common in
Ouémé than elsewhere, while houses with cement walls are more common in Mono.
Somewhat surprisingly, these two departments also have higher proportions of houses with bamboo
or straw walls. Cement or tile floors account for two-thirds of the houses in Ouémé and Atlantique,
compared to about half nationwide. And metal rooves are most common in Zou,
Atlantique, and Mono. These results indicate that, in general, houses in the south are more often
constructed of more durable materials compared to those in the north (see Table 4.1.160).
In terms of ownership patters, Ouémé and Mono are unusual in having a relatively high proportion
of houses that are used without payment (26 and 17 percent, respectively). House rental is also
higher in these departments than elsewhere, although even here it is rare (4-5 percent). In the other
departments, 88-99 percent of the dwellings are owned by the farm households (see Table 4.1.160).
There are also some differences between the dwellings of male- and female-headed households.
Female-headed households tend to have lower quality walls (mud brick/mud) compared to maleheaded
households, but also tend to have higher quality floors (cement/tile) and higher quality roofs
(metal sheet) relative to male-headed households. These patterns seem to reflect the geographic
distribution of female-headed households, rather than housing preferences of men and women.
Female-headed households are also less likely to own the house and more likely to use it without
payment (see Table 4.1.161).
Not surprisingly, the materials used in housing are also correlated with per capita expenditure. As
expenditure rises, the share of houses with mud brick or dried mud walls falls while that of houses
with brick or stone rises. Even among the richest 20 percent of farm households,
however, mud brick and dried mud walls are found in three-quarters of the houses. Floors are a
better indicator of per capita expenditure. The incidence of dirt floors falls from 65 percent in the
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