Data_Sheet_1_A Living Income for Cocoa Producers in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana?.docx

It is often claimed that cocoa producers are poor, but the extent of their poverty is rarely defined. We analyzed six data sets derived from household questionnaires of 385–88,896 cocoa producers in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Across all data sets, many households (30–58%) earn a gross income below the World Bank extreme poverty line and the majority (73–90%) do not earn a Living Income. Households with less income per person per day generally achieve lower cocoa yields, consist of more household members, have a smaller land size available, and rely more on cocoa income than households with higher incomes. When comparing the effects of increasing prices and yields on gross income, yield increases lead to larger benefits especially for the poorest households. Doubling the cocoa price would leave 15–25% of households with a gross income below the extreme poverty line and 53–65% below the Living Income benchmark. At yields of 600 kg/ha, against current yields around 300 kg/ha, these percentages are reduced to 7–11 and 48–62%, respectively, while at yields of 1,500 kg/ha only 1–2% of households remain below the extreme poverty line and 13–20% below the Living Income benchmark. If we assume that the production costs of achieving a yield of 1,500 kg/ha are 30% of revenue, still only 2–4% of households earn a net income below the extreme poverty line and 25–32% below the Living Income benchmark. Whilst sustainable intensification of cocoa production is undoubtedly a strong approach to increase cocoa yields and farmer incomes, achieving this does not come without pitfalls. The poorer households face multiple barriers to invest in cocoa production. A better understanding of cocoa producing households and the resources available to them, as well as the opportunity for alternative income generation, is required to tailor options to increase their income. The utility and interpretability of future household surveys would be drastically improved if definitions and variables addressed were approached in a standardized way.

常有人宣称可可生产者生活贫困，然而其贫困程度往往未得到明确界定。本研究分析了来自科特迪瓦和加纳385至88,896名可可生产者的家庭问卷调查所得到的六个数据集。在所有数据集中，许多家庭（30%至58%）的毛收入低于世界银行设定的极端贫困线，而大多数家庭（73%至90%）的收入未达到生活收入水平。人均日收入较低的家庭通常可可产量较低，家庭成员较多，可利用土地面积较小，且比收入较高的家庭更依赖于可可收入。在比较价格上涨和产量增加对毛收入的影响时，产量增加对最贫困家庭带来的益处尤为显著。可可价格上涨一倍后，将有15%至25%的家庭的毛收入低于极端贫困线，53%至65%的家庭的收入低于生活收入基准。在产量达到600公斤/公顷的情况下，与当前约300公斤/公顷的产量相比，这些比例将降至7%至11%和48%至62%，而在产量达到1,500公斤/公顷时，只有1%至2%的家庭的收入低于极端贫困线，13%至20%的家庭的收入低于生活收入基准。如果我们假设实现1,500公斤/公顷产量的生产成本占收入的30%，那么仍然只有2%至4%的家庭的净收入低于极端贫困线，25%至32%的家庭的收入低于生活收入基准。尽管可持续集约化种植无疑是提高可可产量和农民收入的强有力途径，但实现这一目标并非没有风险。贫困家庭在投资可可生产方面面临着多重障碍。为了针对提高其收入制定方案，需要更好地了解可可生产家庭及其可利用的资源，以及创造替代收入来源的机会。如果以标准化方式处理定义和变量，未来家庭调查的实用性和可解释性将得到显著提升。