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Revisiting farm size-productivity relationship: New empirical evidence from Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • S.B. Wassie
  • G.T. Abate
  • Tanguy Bernard

    (GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Are small farms more productive? With this question in mind, this study revisits the farm size–productivity relationship and explores potential explanations using a unique plot-level data from predominantly wheat producers in Ethiopia. Overall, we find that small plots are more productive than large plots. We next test the conventional explanations hypothesised in the literature–labour market imperfection related to costly monitoring of hired workers and omitted variable bias related to soil quality–and find that neither of them essentially explains the inverse relationship. More importantly, we account for agricultural intensification and found no relationship between plot size and productivity. This suggests that the inverse relationship posited in the literature could simply arise from neglecting the impact of agricultural intensification.

Suggested Citation

  • S.B. Wassie & G.T. Abate & Tanguy Bernard, 2019. "Revisiting farm size-productivity relationship: New empirical evidence from Ethiopia," Post-Print hal-03187908, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03187908
    DOI: 10.1080/03031853.2019.1586554
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    Cited by:

    1. Kwabena Nyarko Addai & Wencong Lu & Omphile Temoso, 2021. "Are Female Rice Farmers Less Productive than Male Farmers? Micro-evidence from Ghana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(6), pages 1997-2039, December.
    2. Lowder, Sarah K. & Sánchez, Marco V. & Bertini, Raffaele, 2021. "Which farms feed the world and has farmland become more concentrated?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).

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