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

heads. This suggests that some of the female-headed households are widows. On the other hand,
the dependency ratios are almost the same for male- and female-headed households (see Table
4.1.3).
How does the household composition vary between rich and poor households 3 ? First, poor
households tend to have more members than richer households. Households have around 10
members in the poorest two categories, compared to 7-8 members in the richest two categories.
Second, , the dependency ratio is higher for poor households (55 percent in the first category) than
for richer households (44 percent in the fifth category). The difference in dependency ratios is
largely due to the fact that poor households have more children (see Table 4.1.4).
The proportion of female-headed households does not appear to vary with expenditure category.
This finding is somewhat surprising given the common belief that female-headed households are
poorer and disadvantaged. The relatively small sample of female-headed households, however,
makes this finding somewhat tentative. The results also show that polygamy is found in equal
numbers across all income groups in rural areas, contradicting the view that only richer men can
support a polygamous household (see Table 4.1.4).
Education
Education and literacy levels are relatively low among farm households of Bénin. The
average adult (15 years and older) has 1.4 years of education and less than one in five is literate,
defined as being able to read and/or write. These figures show significant regional variation. The
departments of Ouémé and Mono have the highest literacy rates (33 and 25 percent, respectively)
and the average number of years of schooling is two or more. In contrast, the adult literacy rate is
around 10 percent in Borgou and Atacora (see Table 4.1.5).
3
We use the value of per capita consumption expenditure to measure the standard of living
of households. Consumption expenditure is defined as the sum of four components: cash
expenditures on food, cash expenditure on non-food goods and services, the estimated value of food
produced by the household for its own consumption, and the rental equivalent of owner-occupied
housing. We define five expenditure categories based on the quintiles of per capita consumption
expenditure. Thus, the first category contains the poorest 20 percent of the farm households, the
second contains the next-poorest 20 percent, and so on. Expenditure is considered a better measure
of the standard of living than income because it is less variable over time and because it measures
more directly the material well-being of the household.
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