Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Vol. 3(9), pp. 152-158, November 2014 ISSN 2327-3151 ©2014 Academe Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Semi-subsistence farms in Portugal

Maria José Palma Lampreia Dos-Santos¹*, Rui Pedro Barreiro², José Manuel Teixeira Pereira³ and Amélia Ferreira-da-Silva⁴

¹Polytechnic Institute of Lisboa, Portugal.

²University of Lisbon, Portugal.

³CICF, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Portugal.

⁴CECEJ, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Institute of Accounting and Administration of Porto, Portugal.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: mjpls1963@gmail.com; mjosesantos@ulp.pt. Tel: 22 2073230; Fax: 22 207 32 37.

Accepted 6 October, 2014

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the farm structure in Portugal, the main reasons that explain the duality of the agrarian system between the Southern and Northern regions of the country, and the potential consequences on agricultural development. Besides the farm structure in Portugal as a recurrent issue on the Portuguese literature, the concept of semi-subsistence farms in Portugal was never recognized. This paper tries to overcome this gap on the literature. The methodology used was a univariate statistical analysis, due to the inexistence of more strong information and data. The results confirm the contribution of subsistence farming to household incomes, and social and rural development, with strong development potential due to the macroeconomic situation in Portugal. But concerning that, stronger quantitative analysis and studies are needed. The conclusions suggest that the EU Common Agricultural Policy instruments best suited the response to the specific needs of these subsistence farmers due to the prevalence and importance of small farms in Portugal.

Key words: Agricultural households, semi-subsistence farms, subsistence farming, rural development, Portugal.