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. Examples may be found in all continents, among farming systems of all types, and on farms of all sizes. Yet the practice has been widely criticized in the literature. This paper briefly reviews the adverse and beneficial effects of land fragmentation and considers the question why would farmers fragment their land.