RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Is There a Farm Size–Productivity Relationship in African Agriculture? Evidence from Rwanda
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 317
OP 343
DO 10.3368/le.91.2.317
VO 91
IS 2
A1 Ali, Daniel Ayalew
A1 Deininger, Klaus
YR 2015
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/91/2/317.abstract
AB Whether the negative relationship between farm size and crop productivity that is confirmed in a large global literature holds in Africa is of considerable policy relevance. Plot-level data from Rwanda point toward constant returns to scale and a strong negative relationship between farm size and crop output per hectare that is robust across specifications and emerges also if profits with family labor valued at shadow wages are used but disappears if family labor is valued at market rates. In Rwanda, labor market imperfections, rather than other unobserved factors, seem to be a key reason for the inverse farm-size productivity relationship. (JEL O13, Q15)