SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa

when analysing the smallholder viability at farm
and household level. Farm types also provide
relevant synthetic information concerning crop
production systems and production orientations.
Agricultural income of smallholders
In this section, average annual Farm Net
Income (FNI) levels per region and district are
described followed by a detailed examination of
output values and variable costs.
The smallholders in the Sierra Leone survey
are only partially integrated into the cash economy
of the country, and rely heavily on barter for their
economic transactions. Consequently, a market
only approach to evaluate the allocation process
of smallholders’ resources in crop production
might not be the most appropriate. Therefore it is
necessary to address the specific constraints faced
by smallholders in order to better assess farm
household behaviour and strategic decisions.
Accordingly, a more context-specific approach
has been applied to calculate output value and
input costs of the farm production data obtained
from the survey.
It has been already argued (in section 5)
that FNI for the Sierra Leone survey could be
calculated in two different ways: FNI relying
on Neoclassical theory principles of complete
markets (FNI-NA), and FNI based on the
assumption that peasants are only partially
integrated to a market economy and thus face
incomplete markets (FNI-PF). The main differences
between the two FNI calculations are based in
the calculation of consumption and stocks values
and in the way selected input costs are accounted
for. This means that FNI-NA market values are
assigned to inputs used regardless of whether an
actual competitive market exists or not (i.e. seeds,
hired labour and household labour are valued
at market price). In the FNI-PF calculations are
based on real costs which farm households faced
given the underlying productive and input supply
schemes in place at the village level. The results
of these two FNI calculations (illustrated in Figure
45) are here commented and compared.
For the overall analysis of smallholder
performance in terms of farm viability, factor
(labour/land) productivity and food security
achieved through farming, average FNI and
the main economic indicators of smallholder
income measurement have been calculated at the
following levels for all five surveyed districts: FNI
per average farm household, per cultivated acre,
per household working unit and total household
Figure 45. Farm Net Income of Neoclassical and Peasant Farming Approach for an average smallholder
per district (Leones/year)
Rural poverty reduction and food security: The case of smallholders in Sierra Leone
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