Agricultural economists have long debated the efficiency and viability of smallholder agriculture. While much research has shown that small farmers in developing regions are often more efficient than larger farmers, some have challenged the validity of that evidence, citing potential problems that come with farmers' self-reporting of land size. In this paper, measurements of land size collected via Global Positioning System (GPS) devices are used alongside farmers’ estimates to test the validity of that critique. The main result of the analysis is that more accurate measurement of farmers’ plots if anything reinforces, rather than weakening, the existing evidence of an inverse farm size-productivity relationship.
Details
-
Author
-
Document Date
2015/12/31
-
Document Type
Brief
-
Report Number
147744
-
Volume No
1
-
Total Volume(s)
1
-
Country
-
Region
-
Disclosure Date
2020/04/17
-
Disclosure Status
Disclosed
-
Doc Name
Measurement, Farm Size and Productivity
-
Keywords
farm size; farmer; small farmer; land size; living standard measurement; land quality; efficiency and viability; global positioning system; present evidence; measurement error
- See More
Downloads
COMPLETE REPORT
Official version of document (may contain signatures, etc)
- Official PDF
- TXT*
- Total Downloads** :
- Download Stats
-
*The text version is uncorrected OCR text and is included solely to benefit users with slow connectivity.
Citation
Carletto,Calogero Savastano,Sara Zezza,Alberto
Measurement, Farm Size and Productivity (English). LSMS Integrated Surveys on Agriculture Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/668871587125098246/Measurement-Farm-Size-and-Productivity