SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa

6 Survey Results
106
Figure 46. Annual Cash flow of output value and input production costs (Leones/year)
unit. Results aggregated per district are presented
in Table 27 up to Table 30, respectively.
As illustrated in Figure 45 more income is
generated from household production in Eastern
region than in the Northern region, however the
magnitude of it does also vary across the different
districts and the method of FNI calculation. It can
be seen that based on FNI-NA calculations the
overall performance of the farms in the Eastern
regions is positive (with Kono being around zero),
thus profitable, compared to the farms in the
Northern regions, where farm net income and
farm gross margin both show a negative value.
Alternative calculation of FNI-PF shows positive
results for FNI for all the districts, with best
performing values in Kailahun district. The choice
of crop appears as a determinant factor given
the higher output value of cash crops (i.e. cocoa
and coffee) mainly produced in the Easter region.
From this viewpoint, it may be argued that higher
benefits are obtained per acre in the East than the
North. Nevertheless, costs in Eastern district of
Kailahun were observed to fairly similar to costs
in both districts of the Northern region on a per
acre basis. The key difference lies in the output
value which in both districts of the Northern
region is roughly one-fourth the output value in
Kailahun. Consequently, the balance is positive
in Kailahun district and negative in the Northern
region. Concerning Kenema and Kono, production
is significantly lower (less than half) than in
Kailahun, but so are costs, so the difference stays
positive. Although, if only food crop output value
is compared, the Northern districts on average
appear in a similar position to the Eastern districts.
For cash flow calculation (Figure 46) all
expenditures that are not calculated in cash terms
were excluded, and thus only those components
remain where cash was actually either spent were
included: seeds41 , livestock purchase, hired labour
for cash crops (i.e. during collection periods), or
earnings associated to sold production. As a result,
the balance is slightly negative in the North and it
may only be compensated through complementary
coping strategies such as loans, family gifts, noncash
economic transactions at the village level and
aid between families or other institutional bodies
(NGO’s, Government or International assistance).
However, considering the very low monetary
value of the negative cash-balance the socioeconomic
impact is in fact quite marginal (10000
Leones are roughly 1,78 EUR) and the households
in Northern districts can be considered balanced
around zero in real terms.
41 In the case of seeds, the 2003/2004 Sierra Leone survey
indicates that usually 1/4th of seeds are acquired without
enterint into a monetary exchange.