Redefining Philippine farm households based on their income from agricultural activities

This study aimed to answer the problem of defining a farm household in a more concrete manner. The present official definition of a farm and farmer may not be applicable now nor can it fully grasp the reality of the situation of farm workers and farm households. To answer the objectives of the study, five possible definitions of a farm household were proposed. These are: 1) households with reported incomes from agricultural activities; 2) households whose heads have agricultural occupations; 3) households whose heads are engaged in agricultural business; 4) agricultural households as defined in the Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES); and 5) households whose agricultural incomes are greater than their non-agricultural incomes. Agricultural activities only include crop farming and gardening, livestock and poultry raising, share of income from crops, vegetables, livestock and/or poultry raised by other households, and family sustenance activities. Using the 2003 FIES data, estimates were computed using the different definitions, assessed based on their precision and finally compared to the 2002 counts of farm households coming from the 2002 Census of Agriculture (CA). Based on these, the best set of estimates is given to the first definition, that is, a household is a farm household if it has reported income from agricultural activities, with Regions 2 (Cagayan Valley), 8 (Eastern Visayas) and 14 (CAR) [Cordillera Administrative Region] having the highest proportions of farm households. These estimates are found to be reliable. Regions with high proportions of farm household can now be classified as agricultural in nature. Knowing the agricultural regions could be of support in government planning and decision-making in targeting the right beneficiaries. Moreover, obtaining estimates of farm households may also lead to estimates of the number of farmers by multiplying the number of farm households by the average number of adult household members which can be obtained from the results of the Census of Population (POPCEN). This study estimated about 22 million farmers with coefficient of variation equal to 0.0159, from the estimate of the number of farm households using the first definition. This is very high estimate compared to the census count, but this is expected since the new definition includes all farm workers. For years when census is not conducted, projected population counts may be used to estimate the number of farmers. The results found in this study showed the advantage of using income as basis in defining a farm household. However, this definition requires good household income data collection. Income varies more frequently than physical measures, hence a more frequent data collection is needed than a decennial census. FIES, which is done every three years, can be the source of income data, or more frequent surveys done by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS). This office conducts quarterly surveys which can provide annual estimates, at the least. The new definition found in this study hope to fill gap missed by the present official definition due to the changed farmer situation.