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Smallholder Income And Land Distribution In Africa: Implications For Poverty Reduction Strategies

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Author Info
Jayne, T.S.
Yamano, Takashi
Weber, Michael
Tschirley, David
Benfica, Rui
Neven, David
Chapoto, Anthony
Zulu, Ballard

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Abstract

This paper provides a micro-level foundation for discussions of income and asset allocation within the smallholder sector in Eastern and Southern Africa, and explores the implications of these findings for rural growth and poverty alleviation strategies in the region. Results are drawn from nationally-representative household surveys in five countries between 1990 and 2000: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Zambia. The paper addresses five major points: (1) why geographically-based poverty reduction or targeting strategies-e.g., focusing on marginal areas-is likely to miss a significant share of the poor in any particular country regardless of targeting efficiency in these areas; (2) why current enthusiasm for community-driven development approaches will require serious attention to how resources are allocated at local levels; (3) why sustained income growth for the poorest strata of the rural population will depend on agricultural growth in most countries, even though the poor generally lack the land and other productive resources to respond directly or immediately to policies and investments to stimulate agricultural growth; (4) why agricultural productivity growth, while most easily generating gains for better-off smallholder farmers, is likely to offer the best potential for pulling the poorest and land-constrained households out of poverty; and (5) why meaningful poverty alleviation strategies in many countries will require fundamental changes to make land more accessible to smallholder farmers. This could be accomplished through various processes, including improvement in land rental markets or perhaps land redistribution. We briefly elaborate on each of these findings.

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Paper provided by Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics in its series Food Security III Papers with number 11350.

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Date of creation: 2001
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Handle: RePEc:ags:midafs:11350

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Keywords: Farm Management;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Hazell, P. B. R. & Haddad, Lawrence James, 2001. "Agricultural research and poverty reduction:," 2020 vision discussion papers 34, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Datt, Gaurav & Ravallion, Martin, 1998. "Farm productivity and rural poverty in India," FCND discussion papers 42, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  3. Valdes, Alberto & Lopez, Ramon, 1999. "Fighting Rural Poverty In Latin America: New Evidence And Policy," 1999 Annual meeting, August 8-11, Nashville, TN 21581, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). [Downloadable!]
  4. Jayne, T.S. & Yamano, Takashi & Weber, Michael & Tschirley, David & Benfica, Rui & Neven, David & Chapoto, Anthony & Zulu, Ballard, 2001. "Smallholder Income And Land Distribution In Africa: Implications For Poverty Reduction Strategies," Food Security III Papers 11350, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Atwood, David A., 1990. "Land registration in Africa: The impact on agricultural production," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 659-671, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Simler, Kenneth R. & Nhate, Virgulino, 2005. "Poverty, inequality, and geographic targeting," FCND briefs 192, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  7. Haggblade, Steven & Hazell, Peter B., 1988. "Prospects for equitable growth in rural sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Property Rights and Investment Incentives: Theory and Evidence from Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(5), pages 903-37, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 1998. "Changes in Poverty in Rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: Measurement, Robustness Tests and Decomposition," Center for Economic Studies - Discussion papers ces9819, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën. [Downloadable!]
  10. Tschirley, David L. & Weber, Michael T., 1994. "Food security strategies under extremely adverse conditions: The determinants of household income and consumption in rural Mozambique," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 159-173, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Quan, Nguyen T. & Koo, Anthony Y. C., 1985. "Concentration of land holdings : An empirical exploration of Kuznets' conjecture," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 101-117. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Thomas Reardon & J. Edward Taylor & Kostas Stamoulis & Peter Lanjouw & Arsenio Balisacan, 2000. "Effects of Non-Farm Employment on Rural Income Inequality in Developing Countries: An Investment Perspective," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(2), pages 266-288. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1998. "New ways of looking at old issues: inequality and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 259-287. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Andre, Catherine & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 1998. "Land relations under unbearable stress: Rwanda caught in the Malthusian trap," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-47, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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