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Data obtained in a 1985/86 survey of 240 farm households in southern Zaire are used to test hypotheses on the relationship between household composition & farm size proposed by Hans P. Binswanger & John McIntire (eg, see SOPODA 10:1/88D5158). Findings uphold Binswanger's & McIntire's contentions regarding the virtual universality of self-cultivation, the limited extent of hiring of labor, & the importance of the household's age-sex composition to farm size. However, contrary to the Binswanger-McIntire hypothesis that cultivated area per household member will be invariant across household size & wealth, regression analyses show that this relationship is negative: in larger households, less area was cultivated per member than in smaller households. This difference in productivity may reflect incentive problems or greater diversification of tasks as household size increases. Wealthy households have relatively large cultivated areas, probably as a consequence of greater access to external output markets than in the Binswanger & McIntire base case. The relative contributions to farm work of female & male household members differ by household size, with women contributing a larger proportion in larger households. 4 Tables, 1 Figure, 17 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article provides a descriptive overview of a number of characteristics of farms and farm households in traditional Zairian agriculture. Information is provided regarding household size, farm size, crops cultivated, livestock, participation by men and women in various agricultural activities, overall participation in agriculture and in nonagricultural activities by age and sex, and utilization of nonhousehold labor inputs. In addition, regression analysis reveals that household labor inputs, household size and composition, and geographic location are all important determinants of area under cultivation. At the margin, women's contribution to area cultivated is nearly twice as great as that of men.