[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/agecon/v32y2005is1p135-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is small beautiful? Farm size, productivity, and poverty in Asian agriculture

Author

Listed:
  • Shenggen Fan
  • Connie Chan‐Kang
Abstract
Small farms characterize agriculture in Asia. With the fragmentation of land holdings, the average size of farms fell in the region, while the number of small‐size holdings increased significantly. These small‐scale farmers play an important role for food security and poverty alleviation. However, whether and how these small farms can survive under globalization is a hotly debated topic. In particular, the traditional claim that “small is beautiful,” which is based on empirical observation that small farms present higher land productivity than large farms, is being challenged. It has been shown that a positive relationship also exists between farm size and labor productivity (and therefore income). To help these small farms prosper under increasing globalization, the governments have to change the “business as usual” attitude. Innovative land reform, for example, is crucial to secure property rights to farmers and to increase farm size. Equally important is the reform of public institutions in order to help small farmers to have access to credit, marketing, and technology. Moreover, promoting diversification in the production of high‐value commodities can play an important role in raising the small‐holders' income. Finally, policies that facilitate urban–rural migration and promote the development of the rural nonfarm sector are essential to help alleviate poverty among small‐farm households and among the rural poor in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Shenggen Fan & Connie Chan‐Kang, 2005. "Is small beautiful? Farm size, productivity, and poverty in Asian agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 135-146, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:32:y:2005:i:s1:p:135-146
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0169-5150.2004.00019.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0169-5150.2004.00019.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.0169-5150.2004.00019.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Butzer, Rita & Larson, Donald F. & Mundlak, Yair, 2002. "Determinants Of Agricultural Growth In Thailand, Indonesia And The Philippines," Discussion Papers 14979, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    2. Fan, Shenggen & Zhang, Linxiu & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2002. "Growth, inequality, and poverty in rural China: the role of public investments," Research reports 125, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Kawagoe, Toshihiko, 1999. "Agricultural land reform in postwar Japan : experiences and issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2111, The World Bank.
    4. Mundlack, Yair & Larson, Donald F. & Butzer, Rita, 2002. "Determinants of agricultural growth in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2803, The World Bank.
    5. World Bank, 2002. "World Development Indicators 2002," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13921.
    6. Rasmus Heltberg, 1996. "How Rural Market Imperfections Shape the Relation Between Farm Size and Productivity - A General Framework and an Application to Pakstani Data," Discussion Papers 96-20, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arsenio M Balisacan, 2004. "Averting Hunger and Food Insecurity in Asia," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 1(1), pages 39-60, June.
    2. Llanto, Gilberto M., 2012. "The Impact of Infrastructure on Agricultural Productivity," Discussion Papers DP 2012-12, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    3. Amuakwa-Mensah, Salome & Surry, Yves, 2022. "Association between rural electrification and agricultural output: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    4. Iimi, Atsushi & Smith, James Wilson, 2007. "what is missing between agricultural growth and infrastructure development ? cases of coffee and dairy in Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4411, The World Bank.
    5. Grimm, Michael & Klasen, Stephan, 2007. "Geography vs. Institutions at the Village Level," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 9, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    6. Pearce, David, 2005. "Review of ACIAR's Research on Agricultural Policy," Impact Assessment Series (IAS) 113220, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
    7. Joachim Von Braun, 2005. "Agricultural economics and distributional effects," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 1-20, January.
    8. Keith Fuglie, 2004. "Productivity growth in Indonesian agriculture, 1961-2000," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 209-225.
    9. Manfred Wiebelt & Rainer Schweickert & Clemens Breisinger & Marcus Böhme, 2011. "Oil revenues for public investment in Africa: targeting urban or rural areas?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(4), pages 745-770, November.
    10. Teruel, Romeo G. & Kuroda, Yoshimi, 2005. "Public infrastructure and productivity growth in Philippine agriculture, 1974-2000," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 555-576, June.
    11. Ouedraogo, Souleymane & Bako, Daman, 2014. "Public Expenditures and Agricultural Growth in Burkina Faso," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society (AESS), vol. 4(10), pages 1-13, October.
    12. Ilemobayo, Olufunke Olufunmilayo & Rahji, Mohammed Abdul Yekeen & Oluwafemi, Zacchaeus Olaniyi & Johnson, Sina Basil, 2024. "A Time Series Analysis of Output-Oriented Production Efficiency in Nigeria Agriculture," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 12(01), January.
    13. Berthold Herrendorf & Todd Schoellman, 2015. "Why is Measured Productivity so Low in Agriculture?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(4), pages 1003-1022, October.
    14. Zhang, Xiaobo & Kanbur, Ravi, 2005. "Spatial inequality in education and health care in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 189-204.
    15. repec:got:cegedp:70 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. World Bank, 2004. "Islamic Republic of Iran : An Agricultural Policy Note," World Bank Publications - Reports 15692, The World Bank Group.
    17. Nguyen, Duc Loc & Grote, Ulrike, 2015. "Migration, Agricultural Production and Diversification: A case study from Vietnam," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 229379, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Yayat Sukayat & Iwan Setiawan & Ukas Suharfaputra & Ganjar Kurnia, 2023. "Determining Factors for Farmers to Engage in Sustainable Agricultural Practices: A Case from Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-14, July.
    19. Mayéko Léon, 2020. "Hunger and the Issue of Agricultural Productivity in Congo," Journal of Agricultural Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 8(2), pages 306-322, June.
    20. Kumari, Anita & Kumar Sharma, Anil, 2017. "Infrastructure financing and development: A bibliometric review," International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 49-65.
    21. Chamberlin, Jordan & Jayne, T.S., 2013. "Unpacking the Meaning of ‘Market Access’: Evidence from Rural Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 245-264.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:32:y:2005:i:s1:p:135-146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.