Non-agricultural Income Research Articles

Poverty and food insecurity in eastern India: A disaggregated regional profile of West Bengal

With the United Nations’ Millennium Declaration adopting eight major development goals on 8 September 2000, the question of reduction in poverty and food insecurity has received major policy focus in several developing countries the world over. The paper intends to study the nature of income inequalities, food security and poverty among different sub-groups of population in Eastern India. It has been found that inequalities in terms of share of total income and population exist both in case of agricultural and non-agricultural income irrespective of sub-groups. The contribution of agricultural income in the income profile is less than that of non-agricultural income which exhibits the deplorable condition of agriculture and thereby the non-agricultural sector has an immense scope for reduction of income inequality even the fact remains that about 65 per cent of the rural population engages in agriculture. The population of India increased at an exponential rate of 1.64 per cent year on year (YoY) during 2001-11 and for West Bengal it’s 1.31 per cent. On continuing with conventional production, the per capita availability of cereals would be 390 g per day in 2032 for West Bengal and 568 g per day for India. The adjusted R2 of fit is 78 per cent for West Bengal and 96 per cent for India. There is a steady decline in growth of cereal production in India and the decline is more striking in West Bengal.

Analyzing multidimensional measures of poverty and their influences in China's Qinba Mountains

Abstract: We use the Alkire–Foster poverty measure and decomposition method to study multidimensional poverty in the Qinling–Daba contiguous poor area of China's Henan Province. We examine absolute, relative, and multidimensional poverty focusing on heads of household and family characteristics as constituents of escaping each. We find that the multidimensional poverty index declines to a low level as values of k increase. Combining first-order random dominance with second-order stochastic dominance quickly determines rankings in the multidimensional poverty index. Increasing non-agricultural income emerges as the most important influence on escaping rural poverty, whereas households with elderly and children are at greatest risk for falling into poverty.

Determinants of migration decision-making for rural households: a case study in Chongqing, China

Migration is a global strategy for promoting economic growth and sustainable urbanization, specifically in developing countries. It is critical for governments to understand the determinants of migration decision for rural households so that proper migration measures can be taken. Different from previous studies that mainly focus on migration determinants without considering migration patterns, this paper divides migration patterns into three types—no migration, labor migration, and family migration, and examines the determinants for “no migration–migration” and “labor migration–family migration,” respectively. The binary logistic model is adopted to analyze the impacts of various migration factors in Chongqing city. Results show that: (1) per capita non-agricultural income plays the most significant positive role in driving “no migration–migration.” This is followed by the number of household labor force, whereas road accessibility is the key factor for inhibiting migration. (2) The key contributory factor for “labor migration–family migration” is per capita non-agricultural income. This is followed by the residential distance from towns, whereas the number of household labor force and the average age of labor force are restraining factors. The research results can effectively provide scientific reference for local governments to advance the transfer of the surplus rural labor force to promote sustainable urbanization.

Determination of Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Agricultural Land Use in the GAP-Harran Plain of Turkey

There is a risk of salinity and degradation in soil structure due to excessive irrigation in the GAP-Harran Plain. The purpose of the research is to determine farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for applications of sustainable agricultural land usage practices to avoid salinization in soil based on irrigation problems related to the demands of the farmers’, their needs, and which factors affect their willingness to accept payment. The basic material of the research was obtained through face-to-face questionnaires from farmers who were selected by a method of simple random sampling in 2018. Heckman’s two-stage model was used in the analysis of the data in Stata. According to the results obtained from the research, 27.85% of the participants indicated WTP and the average amount was USD 16.2/hectare. The average WTP is calculated as USD 4.43/hectare for all participants and 735.38 thousand USD/year for the whole plain. The agricultural income, household size, farming experience, land amount, non-agricultural income, education level, working in the non-agricultural sector, and membership of farmers’ union were determined as statistically effective factors. It is necessary to raise the awareness of farmers through extension services. As awareness increases, both WTP and the adoption of applications will increase. The results supply useful data for people working on this subject for the planning and implementation of sustainable usage of resources in Turkey and to regions with similar socio–economic characteristics. This study is the first of its kind in GAP-Harran, Turkey.

Sources of income in rural households at Kdol Tahaen Commune, Bavel District, Battambang

Poverty in Cambodia is largely a rural phenomenon. Thus, creating sources of rural income to address rural poverty is required to reduce national poverty. This study used a structured questionnaire to explore the sources of income and the factors affecting income generation of a rural commune in Battambang Province, in the northwest of Cambodia. It was found that 68% of total household income in the commune was from agricultural sources, while there were very few sources of non- agricultural income. Villagers who sourced non-agricultural income, generally worked informally conducting activities such petty trade or manual labor for construction projects. Very few villagers engaged in formal employment, and those who did were in occupations such as doctors, teachers, or soldiers. These results suggest that efforts to improve rural livelihoods should focus on adding value to agricultural production via food processing or other industrial activities. Additionally, it is important to create diversified sources of alternative, non-agricultural income via low- or semi-skilled employment.

Generational Differences in Life-Cycle Income among Farm Households

Understanding dynamics behind farm household income provides insights to foresee future income change among farm households. To better understand the change in farm household income, this study decomposes farm household income by age effects, cohort(generation) effects, and year effects. Constructing pseudo panel by birth year of household heads, this study investigates which factor affects farm household income. The results show that age effects are pronounced in farm household income, agricultural income, and non-agricultural income. Farm household income moves drawing inverse U shape. Moreover, cohort effects show that younger generations have earned more income than older generation, which has been resulted from economic growth. It is also noteworthy that transfer from public sector increases by age and younger generations receive more benefits from government than older generations while transfer from family and friends changes in different directions. This implies that the role of government is getting bigger in safety net among farm households and welfare expenditure is likely to explosively increase as farm population rapidly gets old.

CARACTERIZACIÓN DEL SECTOR LADRILLERO EN PUEBLA, MÉXICO: PRODUCCIÓN, COMERCIALIZACIÓN, POBREZA Y TERRITORIO

Brick production is a historically predominant economic activity in rural-urban households with high poverty in the Angelópolis region, in Puebla, Mexico. The objective of this work was to develop a typology and characterize 239 artisanal brickmakers in the region, multivariate statistical methods were used in order to do so. It is concluded that three types of brickmakers coexist in the region: traditional, mechanized and innovative. Identifying the characteristics and main differences is a reference to encourage the endogenous development of the region, mainly, due to its importance in the generation of rural non-agricultural income, for peri-urban families.

Influences of the Transaction Intention of Farmland Transfer under Information Asymmetry: An Empirical Study of 1100 Questionnaires from China

The original intention of the tripartite rural land entitlement system was to activate farmland management rights and improve the efficiency of land element allocation. However, information asymmetry is prevalent in a market with imperfect competition. We analyzed the key factors affecting farmland transfer transactions with the structural equation model using survey data from farmers in five major grain-producing counties in Henan province, China. The purpose of our study was to investigate how these factors contribute to the avoidance of a “lemon market” emerging in farmland transfer and can promote the market regulation of farmland transfer operations. This study was conducted under the framework of asymmetric theory analysis with the purpose of discussing the fundamental forces driving farmland transfer transactions. The results show that (1) the economic characteristics of farmers play an important role in the formation of farmland transfer transactions, and their impacts on the willingness to transfer farmland in and out were 0.69 and 0.97, respectively; and (2) among the observable variables, the satisfaction degree of agricultural technology training and the proportion of non-agricultural income had a strong ability to explain the choice of farmland transfer behavior, and the factors that strongly impacted farmland transfer out behavior were physical condition and farmland quality. Thus, we recommend establishing a detailed land transfer pricing system based on the background quality of farmland and increasing the agricultural science and technology education, focusing on dredging information transmission channels to fulfill the new requirements of the three-right separation system on the government’s supervision of farmland transfer to promote effective links between small-scale peasant economies and modern agriculture.

Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Services to Ensure Sustainable Agricultural Income in the GAP-Harran Plain, Şanlıurfa, Turkey

Sustainable agriculture is necessary for farmers to have a sustainable income. This research aims to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) of farmers in the GAP-Harran Plain for services that would ensure sustainable agricultural income, the factors affecting their willingness, and the minimum amount they would be willing to pay. The main material of the research has been obtained by means of face-to-face surveys involving farmers selected by a simple random sampling method in the GAP-Harran Plain. The sampling volume was determined with a 95% confidence limit and a 5% error margin. Heckman’s two-stage model was used for the analysis. According to the results of the research, 22.61% of the participants showed WTP, and the average amount they were willing to pay was 180.82 TL/hectare (ha) ($31.86/ha). This amount was 3.08% of the average annual agricultural income calculated. About 41.22% of the participants showed no WTP. They believed that the public sector is accountable of the services and consequently, they should be provided free of charge. About 23.14% of the participants showed WTP only for the services that they needed. The average WTP for all participants was calculated as 40.9 TL/ha ($7.21/ha) and 1.2 million $/year for the GAP-Harran Plain. This amount is the minimum and may increase by several folds with a demand-based variety of service delivery. The factors that statistically effect WTP have been determined as age, education, experience, number of households working in agriculture, amount of land, agricultural income, non-agricultural income, membership status of agricultural cooperatives, and product pattern. The results provide useful information to guide researchers, decision-makers, and policy-makers.

Estimation of Factors Affecting Job Migration in Vietnam

This study utilized the logit regression model with data from the Vietnamese Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) in 2016 to discover key factors that determined the probability of job migration in Vietnam. The estimated results of the model indicated that there were seven factors affecting job migration of households including the proportion of people with high school or higher qualification, the proportion of dependents, the number of males, the rate of income from non-agricultural fields, ethnics, areas and households’ living standards compared to the previous five years. In particular, the rate of non-agricultural income had a positive impact on households’ job migration, while other factors had negative effects on households’ job migration. Households’ accommodations and living standards had made great impacts on households whose family members working far away from home and even being helpers.

How farmers’ non-agricultural employment affects rural land circulation in China?

To clarify the impact of non-agricultural employment on rural land circulation in China, we built logit models using the Chinese Household Income Project 2013 dataset, which includes 18,948 household samples over 15 provinces, 126 cities and 234 counties of China in 2013. We use the proportion of non-agricultural income, the proportion of non-agricultural laborers and non-agricultural fixed operating assets to reflect the degree of the households’ dependence on agriculture, the degree of the households’ laborers committed to non-agricultural employment and the stability of non-agricultural employment, respectively. The results show that the stability of non-agricultural employment is an important reason for farmers to transfer out their land, and an increase in non-agricultural income is the fundamental reason. The proportion of non-agricultural assets has the greatest impact on the decision to transfer land, followed by the proportion of non-agricultural income. Per unit increase in the non-agricultural income ratio has a stronger effect on the transfer-out decision than it does on the transfer-in decision, which is a 0.09 increase of the probability of transfer- out the land and a 0.07 decrease of the probability of transfer-in the land. In terms of regional differences, when considering the impact of non-agricultural employment on the land transfer-out decision, the impacts of non-agricultural income and labor force are the greatest in the Central region. The impact of non-agricultural assets is the greatest in the Eastern region. For the Eastern region, the decision to transfer out land is mainly affected by non-agricultural assets and the non-agricultural labor force, and the decision to transfer in land is mainly affected by non-agricultural assets. In the Central and Western regions, the decision to transfer out land is mainly affected by non-agricultural assets, non-agricultural income and the non-agricultural labor force, in that order. The decision to transfer in land in the Central region is not significantly affected by non-agricultural employment. The decision to transfer in land in the Western region is mainly affected by non-agricultural assets, non-agricultural labor force and non-agricultural income, in that order. We note that non-agricultural assets have a prominent impact on land transfer, which shows that the stability of non-agricultural employment has an important impact on land transfer decision- making. Vocational training for rural labor forces may be an effective means to promote stable non-agricultural employment and simultaneously facilitate rural land circulation, especially in Central and Western China.

Farmers' willingness to leave land fallow from the perspective of heterogeneity: A case‐study in ecologically vulnerable areas of Guizhou, China

AbstractLand fallow policy is an important measure for improving cultivated land protection. There is a lack of heterogeneous farmers' willingness to fallow, although scholars have done a lot of researches on the fallow farmers. Therefore, this research based on farmer classification and field research, a questionnaire survey, and PROBIT model was adopted to analyze farmers' willingness to fallow and the influence this has in a rocky desertification fallow area of Guizhou Province, China. The results show that the willingness to fallow and its influencing factors differ among heterogeneous farmers. The amount of fallow compensation and project satisfaction are the common influencing factors affecting heterogeneous farmers' willingness to fallow. In addition, farmers' willingness to fallow is influenced by education level and their understanding of the fallow project, among other factors. Part‐time farmers' willingness is affected by age, gender, and compensation satisfaction, among other factors, and off‐farmers' willingness to fallow is mainly influenced by nonagricultural income level. Based on the results, the following policy recommendations are proposed. The Government should adopt different fallow policies for heterogeneous farmers and formulate corresponding subsidy policies according to local conditions. Furthermore, detailed follow‐up policies should be formulated as soon as possible to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of fallow projects.

Analyzing the deviation between farmers' Land transfer intention and behavior in China's impoverished mountainous Area: A Logistic-ISM model approach

China’s land transfer is an inevitable requirement for implementing the rural revitalization strategy in the new era. The speed and extent of land transfer are related to the sustainable development of China's agriculture and the process of realizing rural agricultural modernization. In practice, due to the imperfect land transfer market and related systems, the property income of the transfer farmers is insufficient, which leads to inconsistency between the intention and behavior of the farmers. Based on a field survey of rural households in Gansu Province's impoverished mountainous area, we first employ cross-analysis to qualitatively assess the deviation between farmers' land transfer intention and behavior. Second, we use a logistic-interpretative-structural model to empirically analyze the factors influencing such a deviation and the internal logical relationships of these factors. We find that a substantial deviation exists between farmers' land transfer intention and behavior, with 57.64 % of respondents having the intention to transfer, but no actual transfer behavior. Moreover, among the 12 factors identified that significantly affect this deviation, agricultural production enthusiasm is superficially the main direct factor, while agricultural production scale, non-agricultural income, satisfaction in agricultural subsidy policy, and the impact of disasters are the secondary, indirect factors. Meanwhile, the deep-rooted factors are the head of household's age, the presence of village cadres in the household, non-farm working hours, the size of the household's labor force, and difficulty in obtaining land transfer information, land types, and property rights intervention. Therefore, we conclude that in the process of land transfer, the leading role of village cadres should be strengthened, a transfer information exchange platform should be established, land policy should be strictly implemented, land adjustment should be reduced, the rural land exit guarantee mechanism should be improved, and the doubts of farmers regarding land transfer should be eliminated. These steps would make sure that the deviation between farmers’ land transfer intention and actual behavior is minimized.

Factors Affecting Farmers’ Access to Formal and Informal Credit: Evidence from Rural Afghanistan

Adequate access to credit is necessary for the sustainable development of agriculture. This study uses a double hurdle model to investigate what affects farming households’ credit participation and amount, and a Probit model to find out credit constraints. For this purpose, the data from a survey of 292 farming households in Afghanistan was utilized. The study finds that households obtain credit for their agricultural activities from various formal and informal sources. The results of the double hurdle model reveal that the financial activities of the households were positively determined by crop diversity, education, number of adults in a household, size of land, and access to extension. Non-agricultural income decreases the likelihood of participation. The results of the analysis of credit constraints indicate that formal credit did not help small-scale and remoter farming households; however, these households relied on informal credit, especially when they faced income shock. Furthermore, religious belief increased the chances of avoiding formal credit but not informal credit. It is suggested that formal credit should be expanded to rural areas, especially to small-scale farming households. Policy makers should also consider increasing access to extension. Formal financial institutions should provide Sharia-compliant credit, which increases the confidence level of households in using formal credit in Afghanistan.

The Economic Sustainability of Farms under Common Agricultural Policy in the European Union Countries

The aim of this paper is to determine the influence of the Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) subsidies on the level of economic sustainability of farms by means of three-fold study. To determine the economic sustainability of farms the authors applied the income gap ratio. Next, the level of income differentiation between farms of various economic classes was established. The last part consisted of the recognition of statistically significant CAP schemes that shape agricultural income in farms of different size and in assessing how the respective subsidies should increase or decrease to fill the recognized gap, based on the coefficients of panel regression. The spatial scope covered all EU countries in 2005–2015. Results show that due to the CAP’s support the average income of farms has approached the average non-agricultural income, but distribution of this support favored the largest farms, increasing disparities within the sector.

Estimation of technical efficiency and output growth decomposition for small-scale rice farmers in Eastern India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to estimate the degree of technical efficiency, determinants of technical inefficiencies and driving forces behind the production growth for a panel data set collected during the 1998/1999 and 2004/2006 Kharif cropping season, from 452 small-scale rice farming households in the Giridih and Purulia districts of Eastern India.Design/methodology/approachThe estimations of technical efficiency utilize stochastic frontier production function with a sub-model of inefficiency effects at both aggregated farm level and disaggregated plot level where traditional varieties (TVs) and high-yielding varieties (HYVs) are differentiated. The output growth decomposition analysis identifies the main contributor to the total rice production growth.FindingsThe results indicate that the sampled farms are operated at moderate levels of technical efficiency. The production of HYV rice is associated with higher technical efficiency compared to TV rice. Farming experience, education attainment, landholding size, the share of non-agricultural income and the share of land in the lower terraces account for the differences in technical inefficiencies across the sampled farms. The decomposition analysis suggests that as technical efficiency decreased, technical change is the main source of production growth during the survey period.Research limitations/implicationsThe small sample size applied in the analysis will result in an insufficient representativeness of the study area.Originality/valueThis paper fills the literature gap as estimations of technical efficiency that account for subtle differences in adopted rice varieties are still rare in India.

Short-term Gains, Long-term Loss: Unintended Effects of China's Land Reform on Education and Labor Market Outcomes

China's land reform during 1978 to 1984 has brought about dramatic changes to rural population. This paper presents empirical evidence that the land reform negatively affected human capital investment. Exploiting the county-by-county rollout of the land reform and use the difference-in-difference strategy, we find that the land reform decreases significantly the likelihood of completed high school education among teenagers. We find no similar effects among urban population or for primary and middle school education. We also find that the land reform leads to a lower likelihood of being employed in non-agricultural sector and lower income approximately two decades later.

As florestas no meio de vida das famílias do Mosaico de unidades de conservação do Lago de Tucuruí, Pará

Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo caracterizar os meios de vida e identificar os usos da floresta para alimentação, saúde, construção e combustível das famílias moradoras do Mosaico de Unidades de Conservação do Lago de Tucuruí, estado do Pará. Como metodologia foi utilizada uma pré tipologia de produtores, definida a partir de levantamento de dados por fontes secundárias, e aplicação de questionário contendo perguntas abertas, auxiliadas por roteiro de entrevistas e registro fotográfico. Para amostragem utilizou se o método nomeado como bola de neve (snow ball). Foram realizadas 12 entrevistas, sendo 3 para os tipos pescador, agricultor, pescador/agricultor e renda não agrícola. Constatou-se que os tipos de meios de vida encontrados são os principais dentro da região do Lago. Cada tipo possui sua peculiaridade, mas todos de alguma forma fazem uso dos recursos da floresta. Para alimentação, os tipos que mais caçam são renda não agrícola, pescador e pescador/agricultor, os tipos renda não agrícola e agricultor são os que mais coletam frutos. O tipo renda não agrícola mostrou ser o tipo que mais coleta espécies florestais para uso medicinal. No uso de madeira para combustível e construção os tipos pescador/agricultor, agricultor e pescador se destacam, já para venda de madeira destacam se o pescador/agricultor e renda não agrícola. De forma geral, a floresta possui um nível de importância grande para todos os tipos de famílias rurais, pois contribui tanto na geração de renda, quanto nos sistemas produtivos, alimentação e tratamento de saúde, sempre no sentido de garantir uma economia financeira e qualidade de vida.

An Economy-Wide Analysis of Trade Liberalization Impacts on Farm Household Income in Taiwan

The impact of trade liberalization on Taiwan’s agricultural sector has been an important issue in policy debates. In this study, a case study of cross-strait trade liberalization is conducted. With the elimination of all tariffs on bilateral trade between Chinese Mainland and Chinese Taipei, the SAM-based computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and database are applied to simulate the impacts of cross-strait trade liberalization on Taiwan’s economy, agricultural output, non-agricultural income, farm household income and employment. Simulation results demonstrate that Taiwan’s GDP will increase by 1.78%, but total agricultural output will decrease by 0.9%. For per farm household income, although agricultural income decreases by NTD 1648, non-agricultural income will increase by NTD 10,580. In total, per farm household income increases by NTD 8,932 with cross-strait trade liberalization. With trade liberalization as the engine of growth and a trade adjustment assistance mechanism at work, economic growth in Taiwan’s agriculture may be maintained and in the long run, non-agricultural income and employment are likely to increase to provide a “safety net” for farm households.

Economic Evaluation of Production Costs and Returns of Potato Crop in Sylhet Region of Bangladesh

Potato production is becoming one of the major profitable crops among the famers in the northeastern part of Bangladesh. This study investigates the occupational status, land tenure arrangement, household income scenarios, and estimates the level of costs and net income variation for potato production in the greater Sylhet areas of Bangladesh by using the both descriptive and statistical techniques. The descriptive results exhibit that most of the households involved in farming as well as other income generating activities; however, the highest income share comes from the household business followed by agricultural activities. Near about half of the farmers belonged from the small category (46.39 percent) and around 37 percent were pure tenant while 30 percent were mixed tenant involved with both sharecropping and cash lease farming. Nonagricultural income and remittance are the key income sources of employment that influence the average per capita income. Agriculture share was approximately 9 percent in total household income where rice dominates the major share and potato does not have significant contribution. However, seed, irrigation, fertilizer, and hired labor cost were the major cost components for potato cultivation. This study also decomposed the variance of net income into different factors and found that gross income difference exists among the farmers due to the fertilizer and seed cost variation. Gross income explained the net income variation, which implies that potato yield or potato price (quality) or both vary widely among the farmers. This study can contribute to making links between the shares of farm household income that would be helpful for policy makers to understand the causes of cost and income variation as well as opt for better strategies to support the farmers.