SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa

hired labour costs for self-subsistance production,
thus arriving to slightly positive outcome in the
Norther districts.
Another way, to examine the differences
between these two FNI measurement
approaches is to compare and contrast the
differences in terms of input cost structures.
Table 31 shows the varying proportion in which
input costs contribute to the total of an average
farm within the five studied districts under
both the Neoclassical and Peasant Farming
approaches. While VC-NA provides market
values to all inputs used, the VC-PF captures the
perception of the incurred costs by the farmers.
Under VC-PF, the main component in the cost
structure in the North is allocated to seeds for
food crop production but in the East, hired
labour (particularly necessary for the harvest of
cash crops) represents the highest proportion.
Alternatively, household and hired labour
constitutes the most important cost component
under VC-NA calculations for all districts alike.
Again, the relevance of hired labour in the East
is accentuated.
Next, output and input components of the
FNI calculation are analysed in more details.
Output Value
There is a difference across the districts
concerning the amount of production value that
goes into consumption, sales and stocks (Figure
49). In the Northern districts the amount of crop
is more or less evenly distributed, around 30%
of the production for sale, and the same for
consumption, while close to 40% is stocked. In the
Eastern districts more than twice of the production
goes for sale, from around 50-80% of the value for
sale, and the remaining 20-50% evenly distributed
between consumption and stock.
Due to the very marginal livestock
production in the studied smallholder farms the
main focus is given on the analysis of food and
tree crop production. As mentioned earlier, tree
crop production is essentially concentrated in the
Eastern region where higher overall output values
are obtained given this concentration on cash
crops (Figure 50).
Figure 49. Output value of crop production per production orientation for an average smallholder by
district (Leones/year)
Rural poverty reduction and food security: The case of smallholders in Sierra Leone
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