Milking the Data : Measuring Income from Milk Production in Extensive Livestock Systems -- Experimental Evidence from Niger

Zezza, Alberto ; Federighi, Giovanni ; Adamou, Kalilou ; Hiernaux, Pierre

World Bank Group, Washington, DC

关键词: Questionnaire design;    Livelihoods;    Household surveys;    Livestock;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7114
RP-ID  :  WPS7114

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Milk is an important source of cash andnutrients for many households in developing countries. Yet,the understanding of the role of dairy production inlivelihoods and nutritional outcomes is hindered by the lackof decent quality household survey data. Data on milkoff-take for human consumption are difficult to collect inhousehold surveys for several reasons that make accuraterecall challenging for the respondent (continuous productionand seasonality, among others). As a result, thequantification and valuation of milk off-take isparticularly difficult in household surveys, introducingpossibly severe biases in the computation of full householdincomes and farm sales, as well as in the estimation of thecontribution of livestock (specifically dairy) production inagricultural value added and the livelihoods of ruralhouseholds. This paper presents results from a validationexercise implemented in Niger, where alternative surveyinstruments based on recall methods were administered torandomly selected households and compared with a 12-monthsystem of physical monitoring and recording of milkproduction. The results of the exercise show that reasonablyaccurate estimates via recall methods are possible andprovide a clear ranking of questionnaire design options thatcan inform future survey operations.