IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fae/ppaper/2017.02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Can Land Fragmentation Reduce the Exposure of Rural Households to Weather Variability?

Author

Listed:
  • Stefanija Veljanoska

    (Paris School of Economics, UniversitŽ de Paris 1 PanthŽon-Sorbonne, UniversitŽ Paris-Sud)

Abstract

Climate change continuously affects African farmers that operate in rain-fed environments. Coping with weather risk through credit and insurance markets is almost inexistent as these markets are imperfect in the African economies. Even though land fragmentation is often considered as a barrier to agricultural productivity, this article aims at analyzing whether land fragmentation, as an insurance alternative, is able to reduce farmers' exposure to weather variability. In order to address this research question, I use the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) data on Uganda. After dealing with the endogeneity of land fragmentation, I find that higher land fragmentation decreases the loss of crop yield when households experience rain deviations. Therefore, policy makers should be cautious with land consolidation programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefanija Veljanoska, 2017. "Can Land Fragmentation Reduce the Exposure of Rural Households to Weather Variability?," Policy Papers 2017.02, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:fae:ppaper:2017.02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://faere.fr/pub/PolicyPapers/Veljanoska_FAERE_PP2017.02.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2017
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tan, Shuhao & Heerink, Nico & Kruseman, Gideon & Qu, Futian, 2008. "Do fragmented landholdings have higher production costs? Evidence from rice farmers in Northeastern Jiangxi province, P.R. China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 347-358, September.
    2. Blarel, Benoit, et al, 1992. "The Economics of Farm Fragmentation: Evidence from Ghana and Rwanda," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 6(2), pages 233-254, May.
    3. Van Hung, Pham & MacAulay, T. Gordon & Marsh, Sally P., 2007. "The economics of land fragmentation in the north of Vietnam," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 51(2), pages 1-17.
    4. Nkonya, Ephraim M. & Pender, John L. & Jagger, Pamela & Sserunkuuma, Dick & Kaizzi, Crammer & Ssali, Henry, 2004. "Strategies for sustainable land management and poverty reduction in Uganda:," Research reports 133, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Carletto, Calogero & Savastano, Sara & Zezza, Alberto, 2013. "Fact or artifact: The impact of measurement errors on the farm size–productivity relationship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 254-261.
    6. Guang Wan & Enjiang Cheng, 2001. "Effects of land fragmentation and returns to scale in the Chinese farming sector," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 183-194.
    7. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Hansen, Lars Gårn, 2016. "The effect of climate change and adaptation policy on agricultural production in Eastern Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 54-64.
    8. Fenoaltea, Stefano, 1976. "Risk, transaction costs, and the organization of medieval agriculture," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 129-151, April.
    9. Paul Collier & Gordon Conway & Tony Venables, 2008. "Climate change and Africa," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 337-353, Summer.
    10. Pham Van Hung & T. Gordon MacAulay & Sally P. Marsh, 2007. "The economics of land fragmentation in the north of Vietnam ," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 51(2), pages 195-211, June.
    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. Veljanoska, Stefanija, 2018. "Can Land Fragmentation Reduce the Exposure of Rural Households to Weather Variability?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 42-51.
    2. Stefanija Veljanoska, 2017. "Can Land Fragmentation Reduce the Exposure of Rural Households to Weather Variability?," Working Papers 2017.08, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    3. Kawasaki, Kentaro, 2010. "The costs and benefits of land fragmentation of rice farms in Japan," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(4), pages 1-18.
    4. Daniel Ayalew Ali & Klaus Deininger & Loraine Ronchi, 2019. "Costs and Benefits of Land Fragmentation: Evidence from Rwanda," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 33(3), pages 750-771.
    5. Klaus Deininger & Daniel Monchuk & Hari K Nagarajan & Sudhir K Singh, 2017. "Does Land Fragmentation Increase the Cost of Cultivation? Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(1), pages 82-98, January.
    6. Jia, Lili, 2012. "Land fragmentation and off-farm labor supply in China," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 66, number 66.
    7. Yishao Shi & Qianqian Yang & Liangliang Zhou & Shouzheng Shi, 2022. "Can Moderate Agricultural Scale Operations Be Developed against the Background of Plot Fragmentation and Land Dispersion? Evidence from the Suburbs of Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    8. Erwin Knippenberg & Dean Jolliffe & John Hoddinott, 2020. "Land Fragmentation and Food Insecurity in Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(5), pages 1557-1577, October.
    9. Huy Quynh Nguyen & Peter Warr, 2018. "Land consolidation as technical change: impacts on-farm and off-farm in rural Vietnam," Departmental Working Papers 2018-25, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    10. Nguyen, Huy Quynh & Warr, Peter, 2020. "Land consolidation as technical change: Economic impacts in rural Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    11. Pierre Damien Ntihinyurwa & Walter Timo de Vries, 2021. "Farmland Fragmentation, Farmland Consolidation and Food Security: Relationships, Research Lapses and Future Perspectives," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-39, January.
    12. Boliari, Natalia, 2013. "Does land fragmentation affect land productivity? Empirical evidence from Bulgaria," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement (RAEStud), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 94(3).
    13. Kawasaki, Kentaro, 2011. "The Impact of Land Fragmentation on Rice Production Cost and Input Use," Japanese Journal of Agricultural Economics (formerly Japanese Journal of Rural Economics), Agricultural Economics Society of Japan (AESJ), vol. 13, pages 1-14.
    14. Latruffe, Laure & Piet, Laurent, 2013. "Does land fragmentation affect farm performance? A case study from Brittany," Factor Markets Working Papers 151, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    15. Nguyen, Huy, 2014. "The effect of land fragmentation on labor allocation and the economic diversity of farm households: The case of Vietnam," MPRA Paper 57521, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Deininger, Klaus & Savastano, Sara & Carletto, Calogero, 2012. "Land Fragmentation, Cropland Abandonment, and Land Market Operation in Albania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 2108-2122.
    17. Ciaian, Pavel & Guri, Fatmir & Rajcaniova, Miroslava & Drabik, Dusan & Paloma, Sergio Gomez y, 2018. "Land fragmentation and production diversification: A case study from rural Albania," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 589-599.
    18. Tesfaye C. Cholo & Jack Peerlings & Luuk Fleskens, 2020. "Land Fragmentation, Technical Efficiency, and Adaptation to Climate Change by Farmers in the Gamo Highlands of Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Olsen, Jakob Vesterlund & Czekaj, Tomasz Gerard & Henningsen, Arne & Schou, Jesper Sølver, 2017. "The Effect Of Land Fragmentation On Farm Performance: A Comprehensive Farm-Level Study From Denmark," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 260900, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Latruffe, Laure & Piet, Laurent, 2013. "Does land fragmentation affect farm performance? A case study from Brittany, France," Working Papers 207854, Institut National de la recherche Agronomique (INRA), Departement Sciences Sociales, Agriculture et Alimentation, Espace et Environnement (SAE2).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    climate change; land fragmentation; rainfall; yield; insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fae:ppaper:2017.02. 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: Dorothée Charlier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/faereea.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.