Farm and farmer characteristics and off-farm work: Evidence from Algeria

Bouchakour, Radhia; Saad, Mohammed

Abstract

© 2019 Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc. Off-farm work is a widespread, two-edged, phenomenon that can help both the survival and the demise of small- and medium-sized agricultural exploitations. Given the prevalence of poverty in rural areas, nonfarm income has been credited with helping farmers to survive. But the observed shrinking of rural areas has also raised the question of whether off-farm work is pulling farmers permanently away from farming. This paper explores the impact of farmer characteristics on the decision to work off-farm in developing countries where this phenomenon has been largely neglected. A review of theory and prior empirical work suggests four main hypotheses which we test empirically. The results suggest that while some farmer characteristics appear to be universal, others appear to be country- or culture-specific.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 2, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Oct 27, 2019
• Publication Date: Oct 27, 2019
• Deposit Date: Dec 12, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 28, 2021
• Journal: Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
• Print ISSN: 1364-985X
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-8489
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8489.12349
• Keywords: developing countries, off‐farm work, portfolio theory, rural areas, theory of labour supply
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/4826142