Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
T A B L E 1.1. Comparison of Farmers
Subsistence
Farm (Donio)
Small Family Farm
(A´da and Octavio)
Commercial
Farm (Steve)
Hectares farmed
1.55
2.25
1300
Hectares owned
0
1.25
486
Hectares rented/leased
1.55
1.0
814
Value of land owned
0
US$6250
US$6,400,000
Value of equipment
US$70
US$135
US$750,000
Farmer education
4 years
6 years
16 years, BSc
Years farming
35
36
32
Source of food
Grown on farms,
some purchased
Grown on farm,
few purchases
All purchased from
local market
Children in family
5
6
2
Children's education
4 - 10 years
5 - 16 years
11 - 16 years
Future
Bleak
Planning expansion
Planning retirement
Table 1.2 gives a comparison of farming operations. Donio uses the least and
Steve the most inputs. A´da and Octavio are the most self-sufficient, buying little
from the local marked. All of Donio's produce goes to feed the family and pay
for farming operations. A
´
da and Octavio produce enough food to feed the family
and sell for cash for other family needs. Steve sells all his produce and uses the
money to purchase all the family needs. Steve's operation is all mechanized while
Donio uses a mixture of hand, animal, and tractor power to carry out farming oper-
ations. A´da and Octavio use very little tractor power doing almost all farming
by hand.
All three farmers are about the same age and have two to six living children.
However, if we count total number of children born to each family, the most will be
Donio with seven, then Octavio with six, and the least will be Steve with only two.
This also follows world demographic trends as seen in Table 1.3. As family incomes
rise and life expectancies increase, couples tend to have fewer children. There are
more guarantees that a newborn child will grow to maturity. Farm families with
greater income also tend to have less need of cheap labor. In fact, one of the reasons
that a farmer such as Donio has many children is the need for labor. All of his children
have small jobs that contribute to the family income. Octavio and Steve both earn
enough cash income that their children can pursue the luxury of a college education.
The only question for Octavio is where his children will earn their living after
graduation.
Other factors that contribute to the differences in family planning are the statistics
for expected life of parents and newborn children.
The two countries with highest infant mortality rates are the Philippines and
Ecuador. When we review the number of children born to each of our sample farm
families, we see they are similar: seven in the Philippines and six in Ecuador. The
life expectancy of the parents in these two countries is also similar.
