Sometime it is being very confusing about on farm, off farm and non farm income. So that I need clarification regardingvthose term with some good example. Please make it clear. Thanks in advance.
Farming activities are related to agriculture.,whereas non farming activities are not related to agriculture. In farming activities big land is required, but in non farming little land is enough. Non farming activities create employment opportunities whereas, in farming activities, farmers are employed on daily basis or for a particular farm activity or for the whole year.
Production of wheat, rice , sugarcane all types of crops include in farming activities, and, in non farming activities such as diary farming, poultry farming, honey etc.
Off-farm activity is defined as those activities which helps to receive cash money from agricultural wage employment, non-agricultural wage employment, self-employment, remittances, and other income such as capital earnings and pensions.
Off-farm activities have been meeting the gap by directly increasing households’ income and providing cash that is invested in farm inputs to increase agricultural production. The concern therefore should be to implement policies that will impact positively on both sectors for overall improvement in rural life. Given the complementarities between off-farm and farm activities and the fact that both sectors actually face similar constraints, application of appropriate policy programmes that can serve both sectors is recommended.
You asked for a clear reply with examples, but to do that, I need to add clarification to your question. And this is just my way of looking at it.
When you are budgeting, planning and reporting your income and expenses for your agricultural enterprise, you may divide your activities into "on-farm" and "off-farm" activities. In other words, where does the activity actually take place.
Examples:
on-farm
growing vegetables, fruits plants, livestock
processing done on the premises
sales generated from people that come to your farm to purchase.
off-farm
sales generated at farmers markets
processing of animals sent to a local processor
attending workshops
marketing activities visiting restaurants or potential retail outlets
In this example "non-farm activity" is everything else, such as income you earn tending bar, or expenses related to buying family groceries or a family vacation.
Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for your a clear and nice reply @Anne Miller
Bir Jahangir Shirazy I did a very interesting Master thesis, on this topic simply off-farm (including the non-agriculture small business started with a low budget) with the purpose to earn money and being a self entrepreneur.
Example (most of the African countries are now developing this sector for reducing the big number of populations in the Agricultural sector. )
Thanks for the explanation. If I say off-farm is more of an investor whereas on-farm strickly focus in farming, would it make sense?
On-farm activities consist of farming and agricultural production, including casual and seasonal labor. Viewed through a value chain lens, on-farm work occurs at the “beginning” of the value chain.
Off-farm income encompasses all agriculture-related activities that occur beyond the farm. Examples of off-farm income and enterprise include extension services, processing, packaging, storage, transportation distribution, and retail sale.
non-farm income and related private sector actors exist outside of agricultural market systems. Non-farm sectors include construction, health care, hospitality, education, mining, and tourism. Some implementing partners refer to non-farm as non-climate-dependent income.
All agricultural workers related to production of food and fibre are on-farm tasks. While off-farm activity is any activity, that is, out of bound of self-owned agricultural farm with regard to the worker, but it could be agriculture related else. Non-farm activity is something not related to farm like manufacturing, construction, mining, quarrying and transport. Best wishes.
@ Sadia Sana Examples of on-farm activity: land preparation, planting of crops, weeding, irrigating, harvesting and post-harvest activities.
And that of off-farm activity are working on road construction, building construction, bridge construction, driving a taxi, running workshop, working on tea garden, working on someone's megafarm, etc.
Examples of non-farm activity manufacturing, construction, mining, quarrying and transport. Thank you
In simple terms, on-farm refers to all activities related to the production of crops and livestock which occur on the farm; off-farm means activities that are related to crops and livestock but occur outside of the field e.g. processing, packaging, etc. (value addition); whilst non-farm activities relate to all other activities that are not related to crop and livestock production e.g. education, petty trading in non-agricultural activities, barbering, building construction, etc.
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