IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/anr/reseco/v14y2022p109-130.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changing Farm Size Distributions and Agricultural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • T.S. Jayne

    (Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA)

  • Ayala Wineman

    (Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA)

  • Jordan Chamberlin

    (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Nairobi, Kenya)

  • Milu Muyanga

    (Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA)

  • Felix Kwame Yeboah

    (Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA)

Abstract

We review the literature on the distribution of farm sizes in sub-Saharan Africa, trends over time, drivers of change in farm structure, and effects on agricultural transformation and present new evidence for seven countries. While it is widely viewed that African agriculture is dominated by small-scale farms, we show that medium-scale farms of 5 to 100 hectares are a nontrivial—and rapidly expanding—force that is influencing the nature and pace of food systems transformation in Africa. The increased prevalence of medium-scale holdings is associated with farm labor productivity growth and underappreciated benefits to smallholder farmers. However, the rise of African investor farmers is also contributing to the commodification of land, escalating land prices, and restricted land access for most local people. A better understanding of these trends and linkages, which requires new data collection activities, could help resolve long-standing policy debates and support strategies that accelerate agricultural transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • T.S. Jayne & Ayala Wineman & Jordan Chamberlin & Milu Muyanga & Felix Kwame Yeboah, 2022. "Changing Farm Size Distributions and Agricultural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 109-130, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:reseco:v:14:y:2022:p:109-130
    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-resource-111220-025657
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-111220-025657
    Download Restriction: Full text downloads are only available to subscribers. Visit the abstract page for more information.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1146/annurev-resource-111220-025657?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Murken, Lisa & Kraehnert, Kati & Gornott, Christoph, 2024. "Is this land for sale? The effects of drought on land ownership in Uganda," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    2. Omulo, Godfrey & Daum, Thomas & Köller, Karlheinz & Birner, Regina, 2024. "Unpacking the behavioral intentions of ‘emergent farmers’ towards mechanized conservation agriculture in Zambia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Jänicke, Clemens & Wesemeyer, Maximilian & Chiarella, Cristina & Lakes, Tobia & Levers, Christian & Meyfroidt, Patrick & Müller, Daniel & Pratzer, Marie & Rufin, Philippe, 2024. "Can we estimate farm size from field size? An empirical investigation of the field size to farm size relationship," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 220.
    4. Ma, Meilin, 2023. "Interdependent investments in attached and movable assets under insecure land rights," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Abdulwahid, Nour & Bakari, Leguma & Hussein, Abdallah & Kawa, Samwel K. & Lavoe, Francis & Mwisomba, Titus & Msuha, Basil & Wineman, Ayala, 2024. "Spillover effects of medium- and large-scale farms on smallholder farmers in Tanzania: Evidence from the National Sample Census of Agriculture 2019/20," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    6. Dickson Mgangathweni Mazibuko & Hiroko Gono & Sarvesh Maskey & Hiromu Okazawa & Lameck Fiwa & Hidehiko Kikuno & Tetsu Sato, 2023. "The Sustainable Niche for Vegetable Production within the Contentious Sustainable Agriculture Discourse: Barriers, Opportunities and Future Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    agricultural transformation; farm size distribution; farm-household surveys; land policy; medium-scale farms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • Q24 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Land
    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns

    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:anr:reseco:v:14:y:2022:p:109-130. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: http://www.annualreviews.org (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.annualreviews.org .

    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.