IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v28y2003i3p253-275.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Smallholder income and land distribution in Africa: implications for poverty reduction strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Jayne, T. S.
  • Yamano, Takashi
  • Weber, Michael T.
  • Tschirley, David
  • Benfica, Rui
  • Chapoto, Antony
  • Zulu, Ballard

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 shows that farm sizes in most of Africa are declining over time; that farm sizes are declining at a faster rate for households at the low end of the land size distribution; that Gini coefficient measures indicate that farm sizes within the small-farm sectors are generally more inequitably distributed than in Asia and Latin America at the time of their green revolutions, not even considering the serious additional disparities in land allocation that would result if large-scale farming sectors were to be included in the several case countries having bi-modal land distribution patterns; and that the largest part of the variation in per capita farm sizes within the small-farm sectors is, in every country, predominantly within-village rather than between villages. Realistic discussions of poverty alleviation strategies in Africa need to be grounded in the context of these land distribution patterns and trends. The paper concludes by identifying the implications for poverty alleviation strategies.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of th
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Jayne, T. S. & Yamano, Takashi & Weber, Michael T. & Tschirley, David & Benfica, Rui & Chapoto, Antony & Zulu, Ballard, 2003. "Smallholder income and land distribution in Africa: implications for poverty reduction strategies," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 253-275, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:28:y:2003:i:3:p:253-275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-9192(03)00046-0
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hazell, Peter B. R. & Haddad, Lawrence James, 2001. "Agricultural research and poverty reduction," 2020 vision briefs 70, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Ravallion, Martin, 1997. "Can high-inequality developing countries escape absolute poverty?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 51-57, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Fan, Shenggen & Hazell, P. B. R., 1999. "Are returns to public investment lower in less-favored rural areas?: an empirical analysis of India," EPTD discussion papers 43, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Stefan Dercon & Krishnan Pramila, 1998. "Changes in Poverty in Rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: Measurement, Robustness Tests and Decomposition," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven 501299, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    6. Jayne, T. S. & Yamano, Takashi & Weber, Michael T. & Tschirley, David & Benfica, Rui & Chapoto, Antony & Zulu, Ballard, 2003. "Smallholder income and land distribution in Africa: implications for poverty reduction strategies," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 253-275, June.
    7. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    8. Steven Haggblade & Jeffrey Hammer & Peter Hazell, 1991. "Modeling Agricultural Growth Multipliers," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(2), pages 361-374.
    9. 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.
    10. Migot-Adholla, Shem, et al, 1991. "Indigenous Land Rights Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Constraint on Productivity?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 5(1), pages 155-175, January.
    11. de Marrule, Higino Francisco, 1998. "Land-Poor In A "Land-Abundant" Setting: Unraveling A Paradox In Mozambique," Graduate Research Master's Degree Plan B Papers 11089, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    12. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    13. Jean‐Philippe Platteau, 1996. "The Evolutionary Theory of Land Rights as Applied to Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Critical Assessment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 29-86, January.
    14. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1998. "Farm productivity and rural poverty in India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 62-85.
    15. Simler, Kenneth R. & Nhate, Virgulino, 2005. "Poverty, inequality, and geographic targeting: evidence from small-area estimates in Mozambique," FCND briefs 192, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Unknown, 1961. "The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development," International Journal of Agrarian Affairs, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 3(2), pages 1-1, April.
    17. Daniel Maxwell & Keith Wiebe, 1999. "Land Tenure and Food Security: Exploring Dynamic Linkages," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 825-849, October.
    18. Christopher Delgado & Peter Hazell & Jane Hopkins & Valerie Kelly, 1994. "Promoting Intersectoral Growth Linkages in Rural Africa Through Agricultural Technology and Policy Reform," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1166-1171.
    19. Haggblade, Steven & Hazell, Peter B., 1988. "Prospects for equitable growth in rural sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8, The World Bank.
    20. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 2002. "Why has economic growth been more pro-poor in some states of India than others?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 381-400, August.
    21. World Bank, 2000. "Can Africa Claim the 21st Century?," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 22962.
    22. Ramón López & Alberto Valdés, 2000. "Fighting Rural Poverty in Latin America: New Evidence and Policy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Ramón López & Alberto Valdés (ed.), Rural Poverty in Latin America, chapter 1, pages 1-31, Palgrave Macmillan.
    23. Deininger, Klaus & Binswanger, Hans P, 1995. "Rent Seeking and the Development of Large-Scale Agriculture in Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(3), pages 493-522, April.
    24. Fafchamps, Marcel, 1992. "Solidarity Networks in Preindustrial Societies: Rational Peasants with a Moral Economy," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 147-174, October.
    25. 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.
    26. Atwood, David A., 1990. "Land registration in Africa: The impact on agricultural production," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 659-671, May.
    27. Ramón López & Alberto Valdés (ed.), 2000. "Rural Poverty in Latin America," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-333-97779-8, December.
    28. Frank Place & Peter Hazell, 1993. "Productivity Effects of Indigenous Land Tenure Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(1), pages 10-19.
    29. 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, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 266-288, May.
    30. Ian A. Coxhead & Peter G. Warr & John Crawford, 1991. "Technical Change, Land Quality, and Income Distribution: A General Equilibrium Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(2), pages 345-360.
    31. 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 903-937, October.
    32. 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.
    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. Gwendoline Promsopha, 2018. "Risk†Coping, Land Tenure And Land Markets: An Overview Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 176-193, February.
    2. Francis Mwesigye & Tomoya Matsumoto, 2013. "Rural-rural Migration and Land Conflicts: Implications on Agricultural Productivity in Uganda," GRIPS Discussion Papers 13-17, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    3. Tom Bundervoet, 2006. "Livestock, Activity Choices and Conflict: Evidence from Burundi," HiCN Working Papers 24, Households in Conflict Network.
    4. Mwesigye, Francis & Matsumoto, Tomoya, 2016. "The Effect of Population Pressure and Internal Migration on Land Conflicts: Implications for Agricultural Productivity in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 25-39.
    5. Jayne, T.S. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Traub, Lulama & Sitko, N. & Muyanga, Milu & Yeboah, Kwame & Nkonde, Chewe & Anseeuw, Ward & Chapoto, A. & Kachule, Richard, 2015. "Africa’s Changing Farmland Ownership: Causes and Consequences," Miscellaneous Publications 208576, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    6. Xu Guangdong, 2013. "Property Rights, Law, and Economic Development," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 117-142, July.
    7. Place, Frank, 2009. "Land Tenure and Agricultural Productivity in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of the Economics Literature and Recent Policy Strategies and Reforms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1326-1336, August.
    8. Séogo, Windinkonté & Zahonogo, Pam, 2023. "Do land property rights matter for stimulating agricultural productivity? Empirical evidence from Burkina Faso," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    9. Francis Mwesigye & Tomoya Matsumoto & Keijiro Otsuka, 2014. "Population Pressure, Rural-to-Rural Migration and Evolution of Land Tenure Institutions: The Case of Uganda," GRIPS Discussion Papers 14-09, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    10. Hichaambwa, Munguzwe & Jayne, T. S., 2014. "Poverty Reduction Potential of Increasing Smallholder Access to Land," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 171873, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    11. Jean-Philippe Platteau, 2002. "The Gradual Erosion of the Social Security Function of Customary Land Tenure Arrangements in Lineage-Based Societies," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-26, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Fenske, James, 2011. "Land tenure and investment incentives: Evidence from West Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 137-156, July.
    13. Jayne, T.S. & Mather, David & Mghenyi, Elliot, 2010. "Principal Challenges Confronting Smallholder Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1384-1398, October.
    14. 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.
    15. Daniel Ayalew Ali & Stefan Dercon & Madhur Gautam, 2011. "Property rights in a very poor country: tenure insecurity and investment in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 42(1), pages 75-86, January.
    16. Thomas Vendryes, 2014. "Peasants Against Private Property Rights: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 971-995, December.
    17. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Goldstein, Markus, 2014. "Environmental and gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence from Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 262-275.
    18. Smith, Robert E., 2004. "Land Tenure, Fixed Investment, and Farm Productivity: Evidence from Zambia's Southern Province," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1641-1661, October.
    19. Klaus Deininger & Daniel Ayalew Ali & Takashi Yamano, 2008. "Legal Knowledge and Economic Development: The Case of Land Rights in Uganda," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(4), pages 593-619.
    20. Abdelhafidh Dhrifi, 2013. "Financial Development and Poverty: What Role for Growth and Inequality?," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 3(4), pages 119-129, October.

    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:eee:jfpoli:v:28:y:2003:i:3:p:253-275. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    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.