Field Matrices for Smallholder Livelihood and Agroecological Assessment

This dataset presents five structured data collection matrices designed to address these under-measured dimensions at farm and household level, complementing the FAO TAPE tool. The matrices are grounded in a theoretical framework that integrates three analytical traditions: the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF), Social Agrarian Metabolism (SAM), and agroecological performance assessment. Their central organising concept is the viability dilemma: the structural tension between market integration and agro-environmental resilience that constitutes a double exposure for smallholder farms to simultaneously operating financial and ecological risk axes.

Matrix 1 assesses the degree of financialisation and market dependency; Matrix 2 documents labour organisation, intensity, and time use; Matrix 3 captures desirability, expectations, and livelihood purpose; Matrix 4 records material resource flows and input metabolism; and Matrix 5 maps territorial resource access and full household time schedules. Together they provide the instrument architecture for an assessment of farm viability that is simultaneously metabolic, social, and subjective.