The 2014 Labor Force Survey shows that men earn nearly three times as much as women in wage employment, more than 2.5 times as much in non-agricultural self-employment, and nearly double in agricultural self-employment. Earnings are lowest in wage-employment in agriculture. However, the agriculture sector makes a larger contribution to poverty reduction than the mining sector (which has the highest earnings) because it provides more, albeit low-wage jobs. Holding the level of employment constant and raising the level of productivity in the agriculture sector could make a significant contribution to reducing poverty in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has a minimum wage established by the Regulation of Wages and Industrial Relations Act No. 18 of 1971. The Act provides for a review of the minimum wage every two years, and the most recent review in 2015 established Le500,000 (equivalent to about US$88.67) as the monthly minimum wage.

As table 5 below shows, the peak seasons for labor demand in the rice sector is around April to June (land preparation and planting) and then September to November (bird scaring and harvesting).

**Table 5: Seasonal use of labor by rice ecosystems (person-days)**

|**Season**|**Upland**|**Boliland**|**IVS**|**Riverain**|**Mangrove**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|January|||||0.5|**0.5**|
|February|9.8|||1.2|0.5|**1.7**|
|March|9.8|11.6|14.0|1.2||**36.6**|
|April|18.2|11.6|29.0|7.7|15.0|**81.5**|
|May|8.3|18.7|29.0|6.5|15.0|**77.5**|
|June|16.8|10.2|22.3|11.5|16.0|**76.8**|
|July|8.5|6.8|13.2|5.0|9.8|**43.3**|
|August||6.8|20.5||8.8|**8.8**|
|September|35.3|3.8|20.9|32.5|8.8|**101.3**|
|October|39.6|15.9|34.9|34.2|18.4|**143.0**|
|November|10.1|12.1|49.9|4.8|10.2|**87.1**|
|December||12.1|18.4||10.2|**10.2**|
|**Total**|**85**|**109.6**|**252.1**|**71.5**|**112.2**|**668.3**|

Source: Authors calculations For the model, labor is specified in two broad categories, temporary labor and family labor. Temporary labor is assumed to be hired daily at a wage rate given by the minimum wage law, which for 2018 was Le500,000 per month or the equivalent of US$3.38 per day.<sup>11</sup> Family labor is priced at a daily “reservation wage” that is higher than zero but lower that the daily rate for the hired-in labor. From the 2015 Population and Housing Census, the average household size is 5.6, with rural household generally larger (6) than urban households (5.1). The average farm family is assumed to have six (6) members, of whom 2 are adults and deliver a total of 20 person-days of labor per month. The family labor constraint may be relaxed through the hiring of temporary labor on a daily or weekly basis. Although the family worker is paid the reservation wage, which is assumed to be lower than the wage for temporary workers, all workers are assumed to have the same level of productivity.

# _Fertilizer availability and use_

The use of fertilizer is well below the requirement. In 2015, only 3.8 percent of farmers reported applying chemical fertilizer and 9.7 percent of farmers reported applying organic fertilizer. Most farmers (41

> 11 It is of course recognized that the actual wages may in fact be lower than the minimum wage, given the high level of unemployment. If this is the case as is likely then _a priori_ the model would be likely to underestimate the level of employment.

13