Land Fragmentation with Double Bonuses -- The Case of Tanzanian Agriculture

Xudong Rao

No 169436, 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Land fragmentation, also known as scattered land holdings, is a common phenomenon in agriculture around the world. In some cases, it has even persisted through government-supported land consolidation programs that aim to improve agricultural productivity. This study evaluates the effect of land fragmentation on agricultural production and hypothesizes that it may be beneficial to farmers by diversifying risk onto separate land plots that usually have heterogeneous growing conditions. Applying a stochastic frontier model to the Tanzania Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) data, we find evidence to support the risk-reduction hypothesis and indications that land fragmentation may be conducive to efficiency. This second finding may seem counter-intuitive but is also supported by similar studies. We further argue that accounting for risk preferences that are absent from current framework in future research may help explain the double bonuses of land fragmentation.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Crop Production/Industries; International Development; Land Economics/Use; Production Economics; Productivity Analysis; Risk and Uncertainty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45
Date: 2014-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-agr and nep-eff
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/169436/files/L ... ion_Rao_AAEA2014.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea14:169436

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.169436

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().