Keywords
Agrarian systems
Monetary income
How to Cite
Abstract
The data from the normal surveys that are carried out in the country lead us to think that there are high levels of rural poverty that have not been overcome in recent decades. However, agricultural census data do not measure income by producer, they do so by type of production, which does not allow estimating either the heterogeneity of the different types of producers or the specific contribution that agricultural activity has or can have in overcoming minimum poverty levels. To help understand this participation, the article applies a specific methodology (diagnosis of agricultural systems) and develops algorithms that allow disaggregating into typologies and calculating the agricultural income of rural producers in the country.
By applying algorithms, it is possible to estimate exactly how much agriculture contributes to improving or not the situation of farmers; that is, whether or not agriculture helps to overcome poverty. Money income helps to visualize the extent to which these farmers generate their income from the sale of products; that is, to what extent they are in fact integrated into the market economy. Calculations show that the very poor group generates US$ 192 per year of monetary income, that is, less US$ 20 per month. Obviously, these farmers cannot live from agriculture, due to land and financial constraints, and that, therefore, they must work outside their farms and/or receive remittances from abroad.
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