November 8, 2018 Food & Agriculture Uma 0 comment

Smallholder and large scale agriculture in Africa : are there tradeoffs between growth and equity?

This paper attempts to explore the causes of productivity differences by farm size by focusing on Kenya and Malawi, which have had a superior record in maintaining agricultural data. The data show that yields per hectare are higher on large farms, which not only make more intensive use of modern inputs but also of labor. In part, this is because large farmers are better able to undertake risk. Small farmers, who have been slower to adopt modern technology, have had inadequate access to modern inputs. Nevertheless, the domestic resource costs (DRCs) of small farm production are similar to those of large farms, so that no loss in productive efficiency results from adopting a smallholder development strategy. The following policies are suggested to foster more rapid growth in smallholder productivity. First, a greater knowledge of how small farmers mobilize labor through market as well as nonmarket forces is essential. Second, smallholder programs may also require governments to provide information, inputs and credit until private markets for these services are able to develop. Finally, a land policy is needed to increase the access of households to land, and a production policy is needed to ensure that all households, regardless of farm size, have a right to grow all crops, since there are usually no scale economies in production.