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Table 32. Percentage of farms per region above and below the poverty lines with Peasant Farming
Approach (PF) – based on Farm Net Income (FNI) of smallholders
Poverty level
FNI-PF/hhUnit (% of farms)
Northern region Eastern region Total
Above Full Poverty Line 0.2 23.5 8.1
Above Extreme and Below Full Poverty Line 1.2 36.8 13.2
Below Extreme Poverty Line 98.5 39.7 78.7
Negative Farm Net Income 13.5 1.5 9.4
Figure 67. The proportion of the farms above and below the poverty lines with Peasant Farming Approach
– based on Farm Net Income (FNI) of smallholders
NB: FPL: Full Poverty Line – EPL: Extreme (Food) Poverty Line.
For this purpose, annual FNI per household
unit is used to compare against the defined Full
Poverty Line and Extreme (Food) Poverty Line (see
Chapter 5.2.1).
Once again, it is crucial to underline that
the analysis is conducted on the basis of farm
households’ observed agricultural income as
off-farm activities were not entirely captured
in the survey. In the present analysis, results
are presented for the Peasant Farming income
calculation approach since in the Neoclassical
approach the estimated farm net income
accounts for labour costs which did not really
imply a deduction beyond time engagement.
As previously stated, if a Neoclassical approach
income measurement is used, the concrete
situation of the farm household in the context of
the village is not adequately accounted for, while
under Peasant Farming approach substantial part
of input costs are actually covered by existing
networks at the village/chiefdom level (i.e.
labour). In other words, the comparison of poverty
lines with respect to the NA income calculation
would bring about biased results which overestimate
the inability of farm households to fulfil
their basic needs.
Table 32 presents the proportion of farms
above and below the full poverty line (1324 670
Leones) and Extreme (Food) Poverty Line (648
079 Leones), Figure 67 illustrates the positioning
of all sample observations for Northern and
Eastern regions under the Peasant Farming
income measurement procedures, respectively.
Figure 68 summarises results for all observations.
Rural poverty reduction and food security: The case of smallholders in Sierra Leone
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