although they may never fully compensate for the loss in income they can smooth their consumption to some extent thereby decreasing fluctuations in consumption however the more children living in a household the greater the poverty risk and the lower the ability to smooth consumption world bank b for poor households the strategies available are even more limited and can have detrimental effects impacting their wellbeing in the future leading to chronic poverty and the transmission of poverty over generations ravallion ortiz et al for the poorest households subsistence farming may be a viable option