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

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living from crop and livestock production. The sample was drawn from a census of agricultural<br />

households carried by the Ministry of Rural Development, but some fishing households were<br />

dropped from the survey if they had no crop or livestock production.<br />

<strong>In</strong> this section, we describe the general characteristics of farm households in Bénin. Five topics are<br />

covered: the size and composition of farm households, education and literacy, ethnicity and<br />

religion, membership in organizations, and main economic activities.<br />

Household size and composition<br />

<strong>On</strong>e of the most notable aspects of farm households in Bénin is their size. The average<br />

household has 8.8 members and 45 percent have more than 8 members. This is similar to the<br />

average size of rural households estimated by the 1994-95 Enquête sur les Condition de Vie des<br />

Mengages Ruraux (7 members), but larger than the average found in east and southern Africa of 5<br />

or 6 members. Although the largest households are found in Borgou (11.3 members), even in the<br />

south the average household has 7-8 members. <strong>On</strong> average, a household contains 4.2 children<br />

under the age of 15, 4.3 adults between the ages of 15 and 65, and just 0.2 members over 65 (see<br />

Table 4.1.2).<br />

The dependency ratio is the number of members under 15 or over 65 as a percentage of the total<br />

number of household members. The dependency ratio is 48 percent for the whole country, and it<br />

does not vary much from one department to another (see Table 4.1.2).<br />

A second notable characteristic of farm households in Bénin is the small proportion of femaleheaded<br />

households, just 5 percent. <strong>In</strong> many African countries, the proportion is in the range of 15-<br />

30 percent. <strong>In</strong> Bénin, the percentage is highest in Zou (12 percent) and Atlantique (7 percent) and<br />

lowest in Atacora, where our sample did not record a single female-headed household. This means<br />

that our sample of female-headed households is relatively small (39), so that any figures given for<br />

this type of household must be interpreted with some caution.<br />

The proportion of farm households that are polygamous is just over one-third (36 percent). The<br />

highest rates are in Zou (45 percent) and Atlantique (42 percent).<br />

Female-headed households tend to be somewhat smaller than male-headed households (6.4<br />

compared to 8.9 members). <strong>In</strong> addition, female heads of household tend to be older than male<br />

36

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