PART TIME FARMING IN CYPRUS

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AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS REPORT 40 ISSN 0379-0827

PART–TIME FARMING IN CYPRUS

A. Antoniades and Chr. Papayiannis

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

SEPTEMBER 2001

CYPRUS NICOSIA

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Editor - in Chief

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SUMMARY

The present study examines part-time farming in Cyprus and analyses basic char-acteristics of part-time farmers compared to those of the full-time farmers. The data was collected through personal interviews of the sampled farmers. About 75% of the farmers have agriculture as a secondary occupation, which verifies the results of the Agricultural Census of 1994. Full-time farmers were older than part-time farmers and there was a negative relationship between intensity of off-farm work and farm size. Farmers with farms smaller than 5 ha seek off-farm employment to supplement fam-ily income. As regards education, full-time farmers have a lower level of general edu-cation, with only 22.6% having completed secondary education compared to 51.4% of part-time farmers. However, full-time farmers had a higher level of agricultural training, due primarily to greater availability of time to attend training courses at the Farmers Training Centres. Full-time farmers use rented land more frequently and their farm income is higher than that of part-time farmers. Farmers with off-farm jobs usually use part of their off-farm income for on-farm investments. The proportion of part-time farmers in organizations is higher than that of full-time farmers, the latter, however, being more actively involved due to time availability.

ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ Η παρούσα µελέτη εξετάζει τη µερική απασχόληση στη γεωργία της Κύπρου και αναλύει βασικά χαρακτηριστικά των αγροτών που απασχολούνται µερικώς στη γεωργία σε σχέση µε τους γεωργούς µε πλήρη απασχόληση στη γεωργία. Η συλλογή των στοιχείων έγινε µε προσωπικές συνεντεύξεις γεωργών που µετεί-χαν στο δείγµα. Από την ανάλυση των στοιχείων διαπιστώθηκε ότι ποσοστό 75% ασχολείτο µερικώς µε την γεωργία κάτι που επιβεβαιώνει τα αποτελέσµατα προηγούµενων µελετών καθώς και της Απογραφής Γεωργίας του 1994. Οι πλή-ρως απασχολούµενοι στη γεωργία έχουν µεγαλύτερη µέση ηλικία, σε αντίθεση µε τους µερικά απασχολούµενους. Υπήρχε αρνητική σχέση µεταξύ του βαθµού έντασης της εξωγεωργικής απασχόλησης και του µεγέθους της εκµετάλλευσης. Γεωργοί µε συνολική γεωργική έκταση κάτω των 5.0 εκταρίων αναζητούσαν εργασία εκτός της γεωργικής τους εκµετάλλευσης µε στόχο την εξασφάλιση συµπληρωµατικού οικογενειακού εισοδήµατος. Ως προς το επίπεδο εκπαίδευ-σης, γεωργοί µε αποκλειστική απασχόληση στην γεωργία είχαν χαµηλότερο επί-πεδο γενικής µόρφωσης, µε µόνο 22.6% από αυτούς να είναι απόφοιτοι σχολεί-ου µέσης εκπαίδευσης σε αντίθεση µε 51.4% των γεωργών µε εξωγεωργική απα-σχόληση. Όµως, οι γεωργοί µε πλήρη απασχόληση είχαν περισσότερη επαγγελ-µατική κατάρτιση λόγω κυρίως του ότι έχουν περισσότερο διαθέσιµο χρόνο για παρακολούθηση εκπαιδευτικών προγραµµάτων στα Κέντρα Γεωργικής Εκπαί-δευσης. Οι πλήρως απασχολούµενοι στη γεωργία γεωργοί, χρησιµοποιούν ενοι-κιαζόµενη γη σε µεγαλύτερη συχνότητα σε σχέση µε τους µερικά απασχολούµε-νους. Γεωργοί µε εξωγεωργική απασχόληση δεν προτιµούν να πραγµατοποιούν δάνεια για σκοπούς επενδύσεων στις γεωργικές εκµεταλλεύσεις. Παρόλο που οι µερικά απασχολούµενοι στη γεωργία είναι µέλη τοπικών οργανώσεων σε µεγα-λύτερο ποσοστό, εντούτοις οι πλήρως απασχολούµενοι έχουν πιο ενεργό συµµε-τοχή, λόγω κυρίως διαθέσιµου χρόνου.

PART–TIME FARMING IN CYPRUS

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INTRODUCTION

Part-time farming is a common feature of agriculture in all countries irrespective of the socio-economic system and the level of development. Many authors emphasise the positive role of part-time farming in retarding the disappearance of small farms, preserving a suitable man/land ratio and maintaining social stability in less favoured areas (Maclean, 1977; Himmighofen, 1985; Gas-son, 1986). Haine (1982), also, stated that part-time farming is a structural factor, which could be exploited to solve the farm income problem and overcome problems caused by rural depopulation.

Part-time farming applies to individuals, or to households, engaged in farm production activities and farm operation, farm workers, farmland owners, and farm business associ-ates such as partners and shareholders of incorporated farm businesses. The part-time farming label has usually been applied to farm operators or farm operator households not depending solely on farming for their liveli-hood and spending less than a normal work week in farming activities and the remainder of available time at off-farm work or at leisure activities ( i e, multiple job-holding) (Ahearn

et al., 1991).

However, there is no single acceptable definition. Rozman (1930) during the 1930’s, was the first to distinguish between the terms part-time farming and part-time farmer. He defined a part-time farmer as a farm operator who spends two or more months per year in off-farm work and part-time farming enter-prise as a farm where the equivalent of a full-time male labour was not employed. Bertrand (1967) suggested three definitions: (a) a part-time farmer is one who lives with his family on a farm, usually a small one, but gets a big part of his income from sources other than farming, (b) a part-time farmer is one who has less than $5,000 farm income, spends at least 100 work-days off the farm and is less than 65 years of age and earns more money off-farm than on-farm, and (c) farmers should be clas-sified as part-time farmers according to their past occupations (farmer or non-farmer) and

spends less than 50% of his normal working time in farming (Brunet al., 1991).

In Cyprus, part-time farming is a common attribute of agriculture. As the relative signif-icance of the sector in terms of both GDP and employment continues to decline, and despite the importance placed on this primary sector, part-time farming is increasingly recognised as an indisputable necessity for the mainte-nance of the sector. Out of the 52 089 agricul-tural holdings registered in the Census of 1994, more than half reported operated land up to only 2 ha, indicating how important the small farms are for agriculture. The majority of these farms are unable to support the farm family and those that are, may not be able in the future. As a result many farmers are no longer solely dependent on farm income for their livelihood. According to the structural analysis of farming in Cyprus (Papayiannis and Markou, 1999) 7% reported no agricul-tural income at all, 29% had agriculture as the exclusive income source, 7% earned from farming more than 50% of their total house-hold income, while the remaining were divid-ed between those having income from agri-culture 10-50% (33%) and less than 10% (31%). Employment on farm for the same above groups of farms was 0, 30, 62, 21 and 6 weeks per year, respectively. It was estimat-ed, assuming two labour units per holding, that only in 1/3 of the farms (those part-time holdings reporting agricultural income more than 50%) devoted to farming on average 66% of the household total available labour.

The present study examines part-time farming in conjunction with a number of farmer and farm household characteristics with the view to assess some factors affecting adoption of off-farm employment on the one hand, and on the other hand the impact of part-time farming on the economy and on the farmers’ social life. Specific objectives of the study are:

- to determine the extent of part-time farm-ing in Cyprus

- to identify the personal characteristics of part-time farmers

- to examine their level of education and - to identify the characteristics of their farm.

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climatic conditions, and cropping pattern, i.e., the Mountain, the Vines, the Dryland and the Coastal zone (Fig. 1).

A random sample of approximately 3% of the farms with Standard Gross Margin more than 1,200 EURO (one Economic Size Unit) was drawn from each of the four zones yield-ing a total of 333 farms. Data collection was effected through personal interviews with the farm head and the use of a specially designed questionnaire. The collected data referred to 40 variables related to the social characteris-tics of the farm head, the structural character-istics of the farms, and the attitude of the farm head towards the environment.

One-way and two-way classification and cross-classification contingency tables (chi-square) were performed to identify relation-ships among variables.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Personal and family characteristics of farmers

The development of non-agricultural sec-tors at a rapid pace drew people from rural areas. The failure of agriculture to provide an income comparable to that potentially avail-able by the rest of the economy aggravated the social and cultural deficiencies of rural areas, which no longer satisfy the ambitions of young people.

One out of 4 respondents in this survey

was fully employed in Agriculture, while 75% were part-time farmers (Table 1). Regarding the type of off-farm jobs, 61% of the respondents were employed in the public sector, and 33% in the private sector as employees or self-employed. Four percent of the respondents with off-farm jobs were agri-cultural workers. About 80% of the part-time respondents had full-time off-farm jobs while 20% were full-time or part-time self-employed. The principal reason for seeking off-farm jobs was the need for supplementary family income.

Nearly 1 out of 5 respondents were over 63 years old and only 3% of them were under 34. The most frequent (31.8%) age class of the farmers was 45 to 54 years. More than half of the full-time farmers were over 63 years. A further 21.4% were between 55 and 63 years old and only one quarter were under 45 years of age (Table 2).

In general, part-time farmers were younger than full-time farmers with about two thirds of them below the age of 54. This Table 1.Number of full-time and part-time farmers

Number (%)

Full-time farmers 84 25.2

(without off-farm job) 249 74.8 Part-time farmers

(with off-farm job)

Total 333 100.0

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is related to the fact that agriculture is not any more attractive to young people and to the increased financial needs of young families. Also, unless part-timers are self–employed, they become full-time farmers after retire-ment from their off-farm jobs. Part-time farm-ers are less likely to continue in both jobs, as they get older. The tendency was to let a suc-cessor to take over the farm after retirement as they have more resources to afford retirement than full-time farmers.

All married or divorced respondents (98%) had children. The mean number of children was 2.9. Full-time farmers had a fewer children (2.86)thanpart-timefarmers(3.34).Almost25% of the full-time farmers with children had more

thanthreechildrenincomparisonto39.7%ofthe part-time ones (Table 3).

Full-time farmers had a lower level of for-mal education. Nearly 70% of them had no education or only primary education, while the majority of part-time farmers (55%) had secondary or tertiary education (Table 4).

Education, in general was related to age, with younger people having overall a higher level of formal education. Significant differ-ences were observed between full-time and part-time farmers in the age groups 45 to 54 group and the 55 to 63. Seventy seven percent of full-time farmers in the 45 to 54 age class had completed primary school, while 47.5% of part-time farmers had continued further. A Table 2.Distribution of respondents by occupational status and age

Full-time Part-time Total

Age (years) Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

Under 34 1 1.2 9 3.6 10 3.0 35 - 44 12 14.3 65 26.1 77 23.1 45 - 54 8 9.5 98 39.4 106 31.8 55 - 63 18 21.4 61 24.5 79 23.7 Over 63 45 53.6 16 6.4 61 18.3 Total 84 100.0 249 100.0 333 100.0 X2_{= 99.04887; df = 4; P< 0.05.}

Table 3.Distribution of respondents by occupational status and number of children

Children Full-time Part-time Total

Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

1– 3 62 75.6 146 60.3 208 64.2

3+ 20 24.4 96 39.7 116 35.8

Total 82 100.0 242 100.0 324 100.0

X2_{= 6.22089; df= 1; P< 0.05.}

Table 4. Distribution of respondents by occupational status and educational level

Educational

Level Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

None 3 3.6 5 2.0 8 2.4

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similar trend was observed in the age class 55 to 63, where one third of the part-timers had secondary education compared to only 12.4% t of the full-time farmers.

As regards agricultural education, the analysis showed that the percentage of the full-time farmers who had agricultural educa-tion was similar to that of part-timers. Over-all, no significant relationship existed between age and agricultural education. Agri-cultural education in general was related to the size of farm. The larger was the farm size the more was the agricultural education. Respondents who followed training courses had significantly more land (4.3 ha) than those who did not (3.3 ha). It seems that farm-ers with larger farms recognise the impor-tance of agricultural training.

A high proportion of part-time (79%) and full-time (67%) farmers were members of local organizations. Active participation, however, was lower with part-time farmers The poor involvement due to limitations imposed by their other occupational status (Table 5).

Farm Characteristics

There was a significant relationship between occupationalstatusandfarmsize.Part-timefarmers operate on smaller farms (2.5 ha) in comparison to the full-timers (4.8 ha).

Rented land took up a substantial part of the mean farm enterprise with considerable variation in the area rented per farm. Almost

one quarter of respondents rent some land (Table 6). Part-time farmers were less likely to rent land and when doing so they rented a smaller area compared to the full-time farm-ers. In the Dryland zone full-time farmers rented-in larger area of land.

Only 58% of part-time farmers had farm income higher than C 2800 in comparison to 76% of the full-timers (Table 7). Evidently, low farm income was a factor that induced farmers to seek other income sources.

On-farm investments are considered as an important measure of commitment to farm-ing. More than half of the farmers made investments during the past 5 years (Table 8), with the percentage of part-time farmers (56.6%) being higher than full-time farmers (47.6%). There were differences with regard to the type of investment between the two cat-egories of farmers. A higher percentage (53.7%) of part-timers invested on land improvements compared to 46.3% of the full-time farmers. Only one third of part-full-time respondents invested in crop restructuring or diversification. Only 10% of full-time farm-ers invested in extending the farm in the past 5 years, compared to twice as much (22%) of part-timers.

With regard to outstanding loan balances, there were no differences in the level of bor-rowing or the proportion of total investment accounted for through loans. Part-time farm-ers were less likely to have an outstanding loan (43.8%) compared to of full-time Table 5.Distribution of respondents by occupation status and membership to a local organisation

Membership Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

Yes 57 67.9 197 79.1 254 76.3

No 27 32.1 52 20.9 79 23.7

Total 84 100.0 249 100.0 333 100.0

Table 6.Distribution of respondents by occupational status and land renting

Land renting Full-time Part-time Total

Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

Yes 26 31.0 54 21.7 80 24.0

No 58 69.0 195 78.3 253 76.0

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(59.5%) (Table 9).

Overall, 32.7% of farmers had received grants or subsidised loans for on-farm

invest-ably higher (40%) compared to the time farm-ers (25.6%)

Less than one third of all respondents Table 7.Distribution of respondents by occupational status and farm type

Farm type Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

Livestock Production 11 13.1 11 4.4 22 6.6 Sheep 7 8.3 4 1.6 11 3.3 Dairy Cows 3 3.6 1 0.4 4 1.2 Mixed livestock 1 1.2 6 2.4 7 2.1 Crop Production 73 86.9 238 95.6 311 93.4 Permanent crop 39 46.4 132 53.0 171 51.4 Temporary crop 9 10.7 20 8.0 29 8.7 Mixed crops 25 29.8 86 34.6 111 33.3

Table 8.Distribution of respondents by occupational status and investment

Investment Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

Yes 40 47.6 141 56.6 181 54.4

No 44 52.4 108 43.4 152 45.6

Total 84 100.0 249 100.0 333 100.0

Table 9.Distribution of respondents by occupational status and outstanding loans

Outstanding loan Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

Yes 50 59.5 109 43.8 159 47.7

No 34 40.5 140 56.2 174 52.3

Total 84 100.0 249 100.0 333 100.0

Table 10.Distribution of respondents by occupational status and investment plans

Investment planning Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)

Yes 15 17.9 94 37.8 109 32.7

No 69 82.1 155 62.2 224 67.3

Total 84 100.0 249 100.0 333 100.0

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CONCLUSIONS

Despite changes in the last years, part-time farming is still very important in Cypri-ot agriculture especially among smaller farms. The number of land owners with other gainful employment is likely to increase, giv-en the trgiv-end of decreasing numbers employed in agriculture. However, no large scale move away from the land is expected. Dual occupa-tion farmers are making optimum use of their resources in an effort to maximize household income. Both the level of farm development and investment undertaken by the pluriactive farm households, mainly using borrowed non-farm income, indicate the commitment to the farm. Off-farm employed farmers are younger and have a higher level of formal education and agricultural training. In gener-al, this group of farmers are very open to training, advice and information. They are, thus, a very dynamic group with potential for development, diversification and farm restructuring.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to extend their appreci-ation to Elli Photiou, Photini Pengerou, Skevoulla Philippou and P. Shiskos for col-lecting the data. Sincere thanks are also expressed to farmers whose participation and co-operation made this study possible.

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