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

share of tobacco and non-tobacco growers received the loan they applied for (69 and 68 percent
respectively). Therefore, there does not seem to be discrimination based on the type of crop
grown by the farmer.
Agricultural assets
Farm households own several small agricultural equipment. Table 5.23 demonstrates that
the most common ones are the hoe (owned by 99 percent of the households), followed by the
sickle, the axe and the panga knife (each owned by about two-thirds of the households). Carts,
ploughs, shovels, and spayers are much less common (less than or equal to 10 percent). In terms
of animal ownership, the most common livestock are goats (owned by 66 percent of the
households), followed by pigs (34 percent), and donkeys (12 percent). Only 8 and 5 percent of the
households own cattle and poultry respectively. 31 The average herd size for livestock owners are
8 to 9 goats, 5 donkeys, 4 to 5 pigs, and 11 chickens.
The disaggregation by region shown in Table 5.24 reveals that the frequency of ownership of
agricultural assets (including animals) is more common in the North, followed by the Center and
the South. Similar to household assets, male-headed households are also more likely to own
agricultural assets than female-headed households (see Table 5.25). The ownership of agricultural
assets is positively related with expenditure levels and farm size (see Tables 5.26 and 5.27),
except for poultry which is more commonly owned by small farms.
5.1.7 Crop production
Table 5.28 indicates the percent of households that grow each crop, the area allocation, as well as
average production and yields by crop. Maize remains the most important crop both in terms of
the percent of the households that grow it (99 percent) and in the percent cultivated area allocated
to it (67 percent). Groundnuts are the second most important output and are usually home
consumed or grown for cash income. The other important food crops are beans followed by
cassava and sweet potatoes. Tobacco is the most important cash crop followed by soybeans and
cotton. Vegetables are grown by about 13 percent of the households. Average maize yields are
31 The percent of poultry owners seems to be grossly under-reported as the food expenditure data reported
later show that about one-third of the farm households grew their own chickens.
250