Such an agrarian reform would determine higher output, higher labor absorption and a more equitable income distribution, thus contributing in a decisive manner to the alleviation of rural poverty. The paper also provides estimates of cross-sectional production functions for the 15 countries analyzed. Empirical relations are found between the output elasticities of land, labor and intermediate inputs and physical indicators of their scarcity. The paper concludes by proposing a simple method for deriving a long-term production function for agriculture. The paper further argues that rural poverty alleviation can only take place when more and improved inputs are accompanied by more equal access to land and other assets.
Land reform is a key vehicle for asset redistribution.
Using a pooled farm level dataset, this study tries to distinguish between alternative explanations of the inverse farm-size productivity relationship. Its basic conclusions are that the relationship is not a reflection of bias resulting from sample selection based on farm literacy, nor is it a misidentification of village effects. Empirical evidence affirms inverse relationship. Development Discussion Paper No. 145. Land fragmentation, or the operation of a number of non-contiguous parcels of land as a single farming unit, is a pervasive practice in agriculture.