|
1. Definition
|
Name
|
FARMER'S
AGE
|
|
Brief
definition
|
Farmers
older than 55 years as a percentage of all farmers
|
|
Unit
of measure
|
%
|
2.
Position within the logical framework DPSIR
|
Type
of Indicator
|
Driving
Force
|
3.
Target and political pertinence
|
Objective
|
The
indicator contributes to the definition of the socio-economic
context of the agricultural sector within an area
affected by desertification.
|
|
Importance
with respect to desertification
|
Rural
viability relates to issues such as farmer age structures,
besides educational and managerial skills and access
to key services. The entry into agriculture of young
farmers can provide some indication of the potential
long-term viability of agriculture, given that a younger
workforce is more likely to be able to respond rapidly
to changing economic and environmental conditions
and the sustainability of agriculture (OECD, 2001).
|
|
International
Conventions and agreements
|
The
UNCCD emphasizes that in order to combat desertification
it must be tackled within the general framework of
actions that promote sustainable development.
|
|
Secondary
objectives of the indicator
|
The
indicator can give an indirect measure of farmers’
awareness of environmental problems, assuming that
concerns are negatively linked with age.
|
4.
Methodological description and basic definitions
|
Definitions
and basic concepts
|
In
the Eurostat classification the holders are distributed
according to these age classes:< 35, 35-44, 45-54,
55-64, >=65. The holder of the holding is that
natural person or the legal person on whose account
and in whose name the holding is operated and who
is legally and economically responsible for the holding,
i.e. who takes the economic risks of the holding.
The holder can own the holding outright, or rent it,
or be a hereditary long term leaseholder, or a usufructuary
or a trustee. The holder may have delegated all or
part of power of decision of the normal daily financial
and production routines of running of the holding
to a manager.
|
|
Benchmarks
Indication of the values/ranges of value
|
I°
range: < Local Mean -St. Dev.
II° range: >Local Mean - St. Dev. < Local Mean
III° range: > Local Mean < Local Mean + St.
Dev.
IV° range: > Local Mean + St. Dev
|
|
Methods
of measurement
|
Number
of farmers older than 55 years as a percentage of
all farmers
|
|
Limits
of the indicator
|
Some
of the observed trends in the aging of the farm population
may be overstated because, in some cases, the census
of agriculture counts only one operator per farm,
usually the eldest member of a farming family. Excluding
adult children who operate the family farm thus biases
the calculation of average age upward and understates
the number of people involved in farming.
|
|
Linkages
with other indicators
|
Parallel
employment
|
5.
Evaluation of data needs and availability
|
Data
required to calculate the indicator
|
Distribution
of holders by age classes
|
|
Data
sources
|
Agricultural
Statistics
|
|
Availability
of data from national and international sources
|
EUROSTAT,
National Agricultural Statistics
|
6.
Institutions that have participated in developing the indicator
|
Main
institutions responsible
|
University
of Basilicata, Italy
|
|
Other
contributing organizations
|
Universities
of Athens, Lisbon, Murcia
|
7.
Additional information
|
Bibliography
|
|
|
Other
references
|
http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/ERD/DB/data/data_0.htm
|
|
Contacts
Name and address
|
University
of Basilicata
Prof Giovanni Quaranta
email: quaranta@unibas.it
|
|
