Reference no: EM133130124

Refer to the following case study:

Rowena (aged 34) and her husband Emmanuel Arcamo (aged 35) are farmers. They own two hectares of land planted to coconut and maize located 8 kilometres from the nearest municipality. They also have access to an additional one hectare from a relative who asked them to watch over it and share 50 / 50 the harvests of coconut. Emmanuel finished high school while Rowena obtained a college degree in Education.

Augustine (16), the eldest of four children is in his final year  at the free public high school while Imelda (14) is in second year high school. Both are old enough to help out in the  farm while there are two children studying in the free public elementary school in the barangay.

The Arcamo household also earn additional income when  they help other farmers harvest their crops when their own harvests are not yet ready or it is over. Emmanuel also  does work on the nearby barangay roads in the slack  season and occasionally drives a motorcycle for hire when  his neighbour is not driving it. Additional cash income is also  derived from pamagol and panguling (extracting the coconut  shells and making them into charcoal). This is an especially important addition to income because of the present trend  of low prices of copra.

Questions:

1. What is the impact of this household diversifying their income sources on farm productivity and output?

2. If you were a member of this household would you diversify your income sources? What factors do you need to consider?