et al. 2011). It has been noted that International Labour Organization recommendations for measuring labor are likely to be inadequate in settings such as rural Tanzania, where the majority of labor is found in the informal self-employed and farm sectors (World Bank 2014).

A review of existing surveys that collect labor data in Africa shows that, in practice, the capture of labor market statistics in household surveys varies widely. The recall period, the sequencing of questions, the use of screening questions, the seasonal timing, the granularity of reporting requested, the unit over which labor is reported, and the choice of respondent can vary across surveys within and across countries. Inconsistencies in data collection methods hamper comparisons over time and space if survey methods differ, as has been shown in the context of the measurement of welfare, poverty, and hunger (Backiny-Yetna, Steele, and Djima 2014; Beegle et al. 2012, 2016; De Weerdt et al. 2016) and labor measurement (Bardasi et al. 2011).

National integrated or multitopic household surveys in Africa generally collect data on agricultural labor in two ways.<sup>4</sup> In one approach, general labor information, including agricultural labor, is collected in a labor module. In another, specific agricultural labor data are collected in an agriculture module, such as in the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). In the former case, information on labor involving each household member above some specified age is collected in reference to the last seven days or, perhaps, the last 12 months (Anderson Schaffner 2000). The person’s labor input is not differentiated by plot, by crop, or by farm activity (such as weeding, harvesting, and so on). Instead, in the agricultural module outlined by Reardon and Glewwe (2000), the total days of labor at the household level over the last completed season are collected for each plot and by specific activity. An expanded agricultural module would have the same questions for each household member (as in the LSMSISA).<sup>5</sup> A common feature in these surveys is that labor information is collected from a single interview.

Though it is considered an improvement over surveys with more general labor force questions, the expanded LSMS-ISA agricultural module has several potential drawbacks. First, it is time-consuming to collect this detailed information. Second, the burden on respondents is substantial: respondents are asked to provide information that they may never have considered (for instance, about labor by activity for each plot). Third, there is potential for problems in recall and memory.

# _2.2. What complicates the measurement of smallholder farm labor?_

## **Features of smallholder farming**

> 4 Apart from multitopic household surveys, smallholder information can be collected through specialized farm surveys. These often entail visiting the household at multiple times, particularly those surveys utilizing resident enumerators (for example, agricultural extension agents or other ministry of agriculture staff). However, these surveys typically do not collect details on household farm labor.

> 5 The LSMS-ISA program has been conducted in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. See LSMS (Living Standards Measurement Study) (database), World Bank, Washington, DC, http://www.worldbank.org/lsms.

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