Are small farms really more productive than large farms?

Arbeitspapier

This paper shows that using yields may not be informative of the relationship between farm size and productivity in the context of small-scale farming. This occurs because, in addition to productivity, yields pick up size-dependent market distortions and decreasing returns to scale. As a result, a positive relationship between farm productivity and land size may turn negative when using yields. We illustrate the empirical relevance of this issue with microdata from Uganda and show similar findings for Peru, Tanzania, and Bangladesh. In addition, we show that the dispersion in both measures of productivity across farms of similar size is so large that it renders farm size an ineffective indicator for policy targeting. Our findings stress the need to revisit the empirical evidence on the farm size-productivity relationship and its policy implications.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFS Working Paper ; No. W21/35

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products ; Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets ; Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
• Subject: Farm size ; productivity ; yields ; land markets ; distortions ; agriculture ; policy

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Aragon, Fernando M. ; Restuccia, Diego ; Rud, Juan Pablo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
• (where): London
• (when): 2021

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.1920/wp.ifs.2021.3521
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/249690
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET