Changes in and absolute levels of agricultural pricing and food production may affect consumer food prices producer incentives income distribution and government revenue. The nature of these relationships and effects are of especial policy concern in developing countries. Nonparametric estimation techniques are applied to 1985 Living Standards household survey data of the Cote dIvoire to estimate the impact of a food price change on income distribution. This study examines how food prices are related to agricultural income across rural income in the country. In examining a different country considering a wider variety of crops estimating Engel curves and applying confidence bands the analysis extends work of A.S. Deaton. Analysis indicates that while food grown for home consumption is important net food sales and a percentage of total expenditure seem inconsequential at any level of welfare. Agricultural households grow crops to meet their consumption needs and sell the surplus only when harvests are especially bountiful. Income elasticities with respect to prices are therefore small. These findings suggest that no simple set of small price changes will significantly increase the marketed surplus of food and that structural adjustment policies may be pursued without concern for devastating poor households. Research is needed into ways of increasing food production through methods other than price changes. Results also indicate that price increases do not necessarily benefit only large well-off farms and that a wide range of issues may be considered with nonparametric estimation techniques.