In the Census of Agriculture 2006, 4,367,902 establishments of household agriculture were identified...

In the Census of Agriculture 2006, 4,367,902 establishments of household agriculture were identified. They represented 84.4% of total, but occupied just a 24.3% (or 80.25 million hectares) area of Brazilian agriculture establishments. The non-household establishments represented 15.6% of total and occupied 75.7% of their area.

Of the 80.24 million hectares of household agriculture, 45% were destined to pastures, 28% to forests, and 22% to crops. Nevertheless, household agriculture showed its importance in the Brazilian basic products basket, because it was responsible for 87% of cassava national production, 70% of beans production, 46% of corn, 38% of coffee, 34% of rice, 21% of wheat and, in livestock, 58% of milk, 59% of hogs and pigs, 50% of poultry and 30% of cattle. Following are the main information about household agriculture in the Census of Agriculture 2006.

Concept of “household agriculture” is defined by law

 In order to be classified as household agriculture in the Census of Agriculture (and according to Law no. 11,326), the establishment needed to simultaneously satisfy the conditions detailed at the publication Agricultura familiar – primeiros resultados (pages 14 to 18). The establishments that did not fit those parameters were considered “non-household”¹.

The most frequent is that a family is associated with just one agricultural establishment, although there are exceptions. Thus, by considering each establishment a household unit, the Census of Agriculture 2006 may contain a small overestimate. That variation, however, would not be significant, because, according to PNAD 2007, producers with more than an area of business represented just 0.8% of total.

84.4% of agricultural establishments were engaged in household agriculture

In the Census of Agriculture 2006, 4,367,902 establishments of household agriculture (84.4% of total) were identified, occupying 80.25 million hectares, that is, a 24.3% area of Brazilian agricultural establishments. The non-household establishments represented 15.6% of total establishments, but occupied 75.5% of their area.

Concentration is also shown by comparing the average area of household establishments (18.37 ha) with that of non-household ones (309.18 ha).

Of the 80.25 million hectares of household agriculture, 45% were dedicated to pastures (Table 1.1), 28% had woods, forests or agroforestry systems, and 22% crops. Non-household agriculture also followed that order, but the contribution of pastures and woods/and or forests was a little bigger (49% and 28%, respectively), whereas the area for crops was smaller (17%).

The contribution of woods destined to permanent environmental protection or nature reserve and of used areas with natural woods and/or forests stand out: on average, 10% and 13%, respectively, in the household establishments.

Large part of basic products basket comes from household agriculture

Despite cultivating a smaller area with crops and pastures (17.7 and 36.4 million hectares, respectively), household agriculture is responsible for guaranteeing a good part of food safety in the country, as an important food supplier to the internal market.

In 2006, household agriculture was responsible for 87% of cassava national production, 70% of the bean production, 46% of corn, 38% of coffee (portion constituted of 55% of Robusta variety and 34% of the Arabica), 34% of rice, 58% of milk (58% cow milk and 67% goat milk), 59% of hogs and pigs, 50% of poultry, 30% of cattle, and 21% of wheat. The crop that most contributed to household agriculture was that of soy (16%).

37% of the producer’s relatives who worked on household agriculture were illiterate

Information about education in household agriculture reveals progresses, but also challenges: among the 11 million people involved in household agriculture who have family ties with the producer, almost 7 million (63%) knew how to read and write. On the other hand, there were a little more than 4 million people (37%) who declared not to know how to read or write, mostly people aged 14 or older (3.6 million people). This theme is still a challenge and will deserve a more detailed analysis in the future.

Still regarding level of schooling and technical skills of labor force, the low number of people who declared to have technical skills is impressive: only 170 thousand people in household agriculture and 116 thousand in non-household.

Household agriculture generates a third of the revenue of agricultural establishments in the country

Household agriculture accounted for 1/3 of revenues of Brazilian agricultural establishments (Table 1.8). This smaller contribution in revenues is explained because only 3 million (69%) household producers declared to have obtained some revenue in their establishments during 2006, that is, almost 1/3 of household agriculture producers declared not to have earned revenue in that year.

The 3 million household farmers with some revenue from the sale of products had average revenue of $ 13.6 thousand, especially with the sale of vegetable products, which represented more than 67.5% of the obtained revenue. The second principal source of revenue in household agriculture was the sale of animals and their products (21%). Among the other revenues the highlights were “services rendered to integrating enterprise” and household “agroindustry products”.

74.4% of employed persons at agricultural establishments worked in household agriculture

The Census of Agriculture recorded 12.3 million persons working on household agriculture (74.4% of employed persons in the total of agricultural establishments) (Table 1.6), with an average of 2.6 employed persons aged 14 or older. Non-household establishments employed 4.2 million persons, what corresponds to 25.6% employed labor force.

Among people involved in household agriculture, most were men (2/3), but the number of employed women was also expressive: 4.1 million (1/3 of employed persons).

13.7% of household establishments were run by women

A few more than 600 thousand household establishments (13.7%) were run by women, whereas in non-household agriculture that contribution did not reach 7%.

People who had run their establishments for 10 years or more were 62% of those who conducted the productive activity of household agriculture (Table 1.4). The establishments run by people with less than five years of experience represented only 20% of household agriculture.

74.7% of household farmers were owners and 5.6% were producers with no area

Among the 4.3 million household establishments, 3.2 million producers were owners (Table 1.3), representing 74.7% of household establishments and 87.7% of their area. Other 170 thousand producers declared themselves “settlers with no record of ownership“. However, 691 thousand producers had temporary or precarious access to the lands, either as renter (196 thousand), partners (126 thousand) or occupiers (368 thousand). The less extensive establishments belonged to partners, with an average area of 5.59 ha.

The Census of Agriculture 2006 identified 255 thousand producers without area (resource extractors, honey producers or producers who had already ceased production in temporary areas²) and 95% (242 thousand) were household farmers, what is equivalent to 5.6% total of those farmers.

Household agriculture generated 38% total production value of establishments

Around 3.9 million household establishments declared some production value, whose total reached R$ 143.8 billion in 2006 (Table 1.10). Household agriculture was responsible for 38% (or R$ 54.5 billion) of that total. Vegetable production generated 72% of production value of household agriculture, especially with temporary (42% production value) and permanent (19%) crops. Second was animal activity (25%), especially with big-sized animals (14%).

The average annual production value of household agriculture was R$ 13.99 thousand. Poultry raising had the lowest average value (R$ 1.56 thousand), and flower farming, the highest (R$ 17.56 thousand).

Non-household agriculture presented the highest production value in most activities, but was in the majority in some of them: 56% production value of big-sized animals, 57% added value in agroindustry, 63% in horticulture and 80% in vegetal extraction in the country.

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¹ Among the establishments that did not fit Law 11,326 are the small and medium ones, because of either the area limit or the income limit; and also the public lands. A better identification of those groups will be a theme for a future agenda.

² Manual do Recenseador, IBGE, 2007, p. 25: “Units not situated in a certain land were also considered production units, for example, honey producers, river bed producers at low water, producers at non-constructible areas or hard shoulders, charcoal producers who own kilns and buy wood from others, producers in public land waters for aquiculture and activities of extraction, collection or picking products originated from natural forests”.