II - Methodological notes concerning the calculation of peasant income

Summary

1. Agricultural production measures the quantity harvested (in dry and in grain). Moreover it refers to the ‘overall’ harvest and not the minor harvest, included in green. There is certainly an underestimation of production.

2. The monetary income from wages derived from migration involves expenditures. It is thus necessary to distinguish between gross and net wages. Here the data are net. This produces an underestimation of the degree of monetization of the peasant economy. In particular some expenditure categories were underestimated, such as travel, lodging, food and beverages. The ‘number of workdays’ refers to days of absence from the community. During migration, the peasant faces days without work as well as days of intense work, be it in two jobs (night-watchman and dayditchdigger) or doing overtime. Therefore, it is not permissible to obtain wage rates dividing total net income by number of days in migration.

3. The monetary and non-monetary incomes derived via the local labor market include only wages. Goods such as food, coca, cigarettes and aguardiente which the wage-earner receives from his/her employer are not included.

4. A, P and Z monetary incomes refer to ‘value of sales’. Neither monetary costs incurred via input expenditures (fertilizers, pesticides and others) nor marketing costs (such as transport) were deducted. In the case of transport, it was considered as a consumption expenditure (to make purchases or to go on vacation) because there always exists the possibility of selling the goods in the local market.

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