Technology impact on distribution of rural household income and poverty: insights from a repeat village study representing different rice ecosystems in the Philippines
2001
Marciano, E.B. | Gascon, F.B. | Cabrera, E. and Hossain, M.
The adoption of modern rice varieties and crop management practice has substantially increased rice yield in the Philippines. But it is reported in various circles that little improvement has been made in the poverty situation of the Filipino rice farmer. The point of controversy is whether the diffusion of modern rice varieties has caused growing inequality of rural incomes and accentuation of poverty. As a case study, this chapter will explore the issue of changes in the structure of rural household income and its distribution over the past decade with primary data generated through in-depth household surveys in four villages representing the irrigated, favorable rainfed, and upland rice ecosystems in the Philippines for 1985 and 1997. The study uses a Gini decomposition analysis to assess changes in the magnitude of income inequality and the contribution of different sources of income, including rice, to such changes. The study also measures the incidence, intensity, and severity of poverty using the FGT index and assesses changes in poverty situations for different rice ecosystems. Factors contributing to these changes are discussed. An important finding is that rice accounts for a small and declining fraction of the total household income, and that rice income is relatively less unequally distributed than income from nonfarm sources. The inequality in the distribution of education and landholdings is a more important factor behind growing income inequality than the diffusion of modern rice technologies.
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