Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...
Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ... Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...
Somewhat surprisingly, the relationship between farm size and per capita expenditure is not particularly strong. Households in the lowest expenditure category have farms that average 2.4 hectares compared to around 4 hectares for households in the highest two expenditure categories. The gap in sown area is somewhat larger because poor households are less likely to produce two crops per year compared to richer households. The gap in sown area per capita is even larger, because poor households tend to be larger than richer ones. Thus, households in the poorest expenditure category have just 0.32 hectares per capita compared to 0.80 hectares per capita for those in the highest expenditure category (see Table 4.1.28). Land tenure and acquisition For each plot of land cultivated by the household, farmers were asked about the ownership of the land. Two-thirds of the farmland is owned by the farm household and much of the remainder is either common property (15 percent) or land that is used without payment (11 percent). Only 5 percent of the area is rented and another 1 percent is sharecropped (see Table C-4.1.29). Land rental markets appear to be much more active in Atlantique and Ouémé, where rented land makes up over 20 percent of the total 5 . This conforms to international patterns in which land markets tend to become more active where population density is high. The use of common property is rare in most departments, but accounts for 31 percent of the area in Zou and 19 percent in Borgou. There are also significant differences in land tenure between male- and female-headed households. Female-headed households own just 50 percent of their farmland, relying on land they use without paying (28 percent) and common property (22 percent) much more than male-headed households (see Table 4.1.30). Nonetheless, renting, sharecropping, and relying on common property do not appear to be associated with poverty. The proportion of farmland that is rented and sharecropped is roughly equal among low- and high-income households. Land used without payment is, on the other hand, more common among poor households than among rich (see Table 4.1.31). 5 The total refers to the farmland used by farm households, thus excluding urban land, unused land, and land farmed by large enterprises. 45
Farmers were also asked how they obtained each plot of land. In the vast majority of the land (81 percent of the area), the land was inherited by or donated to the household. Just 9 percent of the area was purchased. It is very rare for households to report being allocated land by the village chief or by the government. Purchased land is most common in the south and becomes progressively less common as one moves north. In Ouémé, 36 percent of the land was purchased by the household, compared to 8 percent in Zou and close to 0 percent in Atacora and Borgou (see Table 4.1.32). This follows the same pattern observed for rented land, further confirming the idea that land markets are more active in the densely populated south. Value of land In the case of rented and sharecropped land, farmers were asked how much they paid the owners of the land. In the case of land rental, the average rate was FCFA 23 thousand per hectare per year. However, the rental rates varied widely across departments. The highest rental rates were found in the south: 33 thousand FCFA in Atlantique, 22 thousand in Mono, and 16 thousand in Ouémé. Rental rates in the center and north were much lower, between 6 and 10 thousand FCFA. These averages should be interpreted with some caution, however, given the small number of plots that were rented in these departments. Regarding sharecropping, there were just 19 cases among the 899 households surveyed. Most of these farmers paid 30-35 percent of the harvest as payment for the land. Source of water Almost all agricultural production in Bénin is rain-fed. In the IFPRI-LARES Small Farmer Survey, 96 percent of the farmland was rainfed. Irrigation accounted for just 1 percent of the area, and this was concentrated in the department of Mono. The remaining 3 percent of the area was bottom-lands (bas fond), in which groundwater is an important source of moisture for plant growth. Most of the bottom-land was found in the department of Ouémé (see Table 4.1.33). The use of irrigation and bas-fond land varies by the type of household: It is more common among male-headed households (5 percent) than among female-headed households (1 percent). 46
- Page 1 and 2: IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL MARKET REFOR
- Page 4 and 5: TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 - INTRO
- Page 6 and 7: 5.1.10 Expenditure patterns .......
- Page 8 and 9: CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Backgr
- Page 10 and 11: villageois, (GV)) was needed as the
- Page 12 and 13: CHAPTER 2: POLICY BACKGROUND FOR BE
- Page 14 and 15: 2.3 Evolution of Economic Policy 2.
- Page 16 and 17: Under pressure from the World Bank
- Page 18 and 19: anking system has been restored to
- Page 20 and 21: Fertilizer can be imported outside
- Page 22 and 23: particularly urban wage-earners. On
- Page 24 and 25: Soulé (1996) describes the evoluti
- Page 26 and 27: led to a more sustainable agricultu
- Page 28: Table 2.4 - Gross farm revenue from
- Page 31 and 32: Malawi’s economy is heavily depen
- Page 33 and 34: the reduction of its operations in
- Page 35 and 36: crops is also difficult because tob
- Page 37 and 38: Table 3.1 CROP 1982/83 1983/84 1984
- Page 40 and 41: CHAPTER 4: RESULTS OF THE BÉNIN SM
- Page 42 and 43: where W v is the weight for a house
- Page 44 and 45: heads. This suggests that some of t
- Page 46 and 47: And school attendance is much highe
- Page 48 and 49: Crop production is the main activit
- Page 50 and 51: (33 percent). Livestock income is m
- Page 54 and 55: It is no more common among richer h
- Page 56 and 57: production, and women actually spen
- Page 58 and 59: Seed use by crop Although only 18 p
- Page 60 and 61: Looking at the results by departmen
- Page 62 and 63: Ouémé presents an unusual case: j
- Page 64 and 65: Market prices have significant effe
- Page 66 and 67: policies of SONAPRA to discourage
- Page 68 and 69: crops are responsible for this incr
- Page 70 and 71: Respondents were asked whether the
- Page 72 and 73: Female-headed households, not surpr
- Page 74 and 75: households are not considered credi
- Page 76 and 77: In almost every category of agricul
- Page 78 and 79: This discussion implies that farms
- Page 80 and 81: eturns per hectare and labor-intens
- Page 82 and 83: farm household and tends to be smal
- Page 84 and 85: Surprisingly, the value of sales as
- Page 86 and 87: Finally, proximity to an all-season
- Page 88 and 89: Changes in crop marketing In this s
- Page 90 and 91: Poor households are more likely to
- Page 92 and 93: it is clear that virtually all grow
- Page 94 and 95: production to total expenditure is
- Page 96 and 97: a significant number of household (
- Page 98 and 99: non-food spending. These are follow
- Page 100 and 101: Larger farms are associated with hi
Somewhat surprisingly, the relationship between farm size and per capita expenditure is not<br />
particularly strong. Households in the lowest expenditure category have farms that average 2.4<br />
hectares compared to around 4 hectares for households in the highest two expenditure categories.<br />
The gap in sown area is somewhat larger because poor households are less likely to produce two<br />
crops per year compared to richer households. The gap in sown area per capita is even larger,<br />
because poor households tend to be larger than richer ones. Thus, households in the poorest<br />
expenditure category have just 0.32 hectares per capita compared to 0.80 hectares per capita for<br />
those in the highest expenditure category (see Table 4.1.28).<br />
Land tenure and acquisition<br />
For each plot of land cultivated by the household, farmers were asked about the ownership<br />
of the land. Two-thirds of the farmland is owned by the farm household and much of the remainder<br />
is either common property (15 percent) or land that is used without payment (11 percent). <strong>On</strong>ly 5<br />
percent of the area is rented and another 1 percent is sharecropped (see Table C-4.1.29).<br />
Land rental markets appear to be much more active in Atlantique and Ouémé, where rented land<br />
makes up over 20 percent of the total 5 . This conforms to international patterns in which land<br />
markets tend to become more active where population density is high. The use of common<br />
property is rare in most departments, but accounts for 31 percent of the area in Zou and 19 percent<br />
in Borgou.<br />
There are also significant differences in land tenure between male- and female-headed households.<br />
Female-headed households own just 50 percent of their farmland, relying on land they use without<br />
paying (28 percent) and common property (22 percent) much more than male-headed households<br />
(see Table 4.1.30).<br />
Nonetheless, renting, sharecropping, and relying on common property do not appear to be<br />
associated with poverty. The proportion of farmland that is rented and sharecropped is roughly<br />
equal among low- and high-income households. Land used without payment is, on the other hand,<br />
more common among poor households than among rich (see Table 4.1.31).<br />
5<br />
The total refers to the farmland used by farm households, thus excluding urban land, unused land,<br />
and land farmed by large enterprises.<br />
45
Change language