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

(33 percent). Livestock income is most important in Atacora and Borgou (12-13 percent of total
income), as would be expected. Although most households in Atlantique have income from animal
product sales, the value of sales is modest. Non-farm enterprise income represents a relatively
large share of income in Ouémé (35 percent) and Atlantique (22 percent), reflecting the large
number of households involved in non-farm activities in those two departments. The contribution
of agricultural wages to total income is small (4 percent or less) in every department except
Atacora, where they represent 11 percent of the total. This may reflect the use of hired labor in
cotton production in the north. Remittances are also more important in Atacora than in other
departments. The contribution of non-agricultural wages is highest in Mono (17 percent of total
income), paralleling the large percentage of households (50 percent) receiving income from this
source in Mono (see Table 4.1.21).
Male- and female-headed households have somewhat different sources of income. Female-headed
households tend to rely more on crop sales, which account for 64 percent of their cash income
compared to 56 percent among male-headed households. At the same time, female-headed
households rely less on income from livestock sales, non-farm enterprises, and non-farm wages.
The importance of pensions, gifts, and assistance is greater among female-headed households (5
percent of the total) than among male-headed households (1 percent). Overall, however, the
composition of male- and female-headed households is fairly similar (see Table 4.1.22).
The composition of income also varies across expenditure categories. The importance of crop sales
rises from 48 percent in the poorest category to 60 percent in the richest. At the same time, the
importance of non-farm enterprises, agricultural wages, non-agricultural wages, and remittances
fall at higher levels of per capita expenditure. The contribution of these four types of income
decline from 38 percent in the lowest category to 25 percent in the highest (see Table 4.1.23).
The composition of income changes significantly and predictably across farm-size categories. Crop
sales rise in importance from 40 percent of total income among households in the smallest farmsize
category to 76 percent of total income of those with the largest farms. Non-farm enterprises,
agricultural wages, and non-agricultural wages become less important as farm size increases.
These three sources account for 39 percent of income in the smallest farm-size category, but they
represent just 12 percent of the total in the largest farm-size category. A similar decline is observed
in the importance of remittances and pension/gifts/assistance (see Table 4.1.24). Thus, the
percentage importance of remittances is not any greater for poor households in Bénin, but it is
significantly higher among small farms. Even more paradoxically, pensions, gifts, and assistance
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