Farm size and productivity in Malawian smallholder agriculture

Dorward, Andrew

doi:10.1080/00220389908422595

Cited by 69 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…So the combined effect of delayed weeding and excessive alcohol consumption led to less productivity on the smaller farms. Dorward found similar trends in Malawi (Dorward, 1999), where a positive relationship between land size and productivity which was associated with selling labour by poorer farms and larger farms having better access to capital.…”

Section: Performance Indicatorssupporting

confidence: 58%

Exploring opportunities for rural livelihoods and food security in Central Mozambique

Leonardo

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Growing awareness of widespread hunger and poverty in many countries in the SSA is spurring a focus on productivity increase in smallholder farming systems. The rationale is that with current production systems many SSA countries are not keeping pace with population growth and changing of peoples' lifestyles. To respond to this challenge the Government of Mozambique developed its Strategic Plan for Agricultural Development (PEDSA) aiming to improve agricultural productivity of the majority of smallholder farmers who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Smallholder farmers are diverse in terms of resources and aspirations. The main objectives of this study are first to understand the diversity among maize-based smallholder farms and their current constraints in improving agricultural productivity in the Manica Plateau, Central Mozambique, and second, building on that understanding to explore options for biomass production either for food, cash or biofuel at farm level and contributions to maize availability in the region. The study was conducted in the Dombe and Zembe Administrative Posts. Farmers in the two posts cultivate both food and cash crops using the same resources, however, distances to the urban market differ, with Zembe close and Dombe far away from the markets. In addition, the agroecological conditions for crop production are more favourable in Dombe compared with Zembe. Using farm surveys, direct observations and on-farm measurements, followed by Principal Components Analysis (PCA) I identified land and labour as the variables that can best explain the variability found among smallholder farms (Chapter 2). Based on these variables I categorised farms into four Farm Types (FT): FT1. Large farms (4.4 ha in Dombe and 2.2 ha in Zembe), hiring in labour; FT2. Intermediate sized farms (1.9-1.2 ha), hiring in and out labour; FT3a. Small farms (1.1-0.9 ha), sharing labour; and FT3b. Small farms (1.0-0.7 ha), hiring out labour. The maize yield and maize labour productivities were higher on large farms (2.3 t ha -1 in Dombe and 2.0 t ha -1 in Zembe; 2.5×10 -3 t h -1 in Dombe and 2.6 ×10 -3 t h -1 in Zembe) compared with small farms (1.5 t ha -1 in Dombe and 1.1 t ha -1 in Zembe;1.4×10 -3 t h -1 in Dombe and 0.9×10 -3 t h -1 in Zembe). The hiring in labour from small farms allowed large farms to timely weed their fields. Small farms were resource constrained and viii hired out labour (mutrakita) for cash or food to the detriment of weeding their own fields, resulting in poor crop yields. Excessive alcohol consumption by small farms also raised concerns on labour quality. Chapter 3 explored options aiming at addressing farmers' objectives of being maize self-sufficient and increased gross margin and the contribution to national objective of producing food. A bio-economic farm model was used to investigate two pathways to increase agricultural production: (i) extensification, expanding the current cultivated area; and (ii) intensification, increasing input use and output per unit of land...

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Section: Performance Indicatorssupporting

confidence: 58%

Exploring opportunities for rural livelihoods and food security in Central Mozambique

Leonardo

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“…A large farm may produce more corn per hectare than a small farm in which the corn is grown as part of a polyculture that also includes beans, squash, etc. In polycultures developed by smallholders productivity in terms of harvestable products per unit area is higher than under sole cropping with the same level of management (Dorward 1999). Yield advantages can range from 20% to 60%, because polycultures reduce of losses due to weeds, insects, and diseases, and make a more efficient use of the available resources of water, light, and nutrients.…”

Section: Agroecological Features Of Smallholder Farming Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agroecologically efficient agricultural systems for smallholder farmers: contributions to food sovereignty

Altieri

Funes-Monzote

Petersen³

2011

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

568

319

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The realization of the contribution of peasant agriculture to food security in the midst of scenarios of climate change, economic and energy crisis, led to the concepts of food sovereignty and agroecologically based production systems to gain much attention in the developing world in the last two decades. New approaches and technologies involving application of blended modern agricultural science and indigenous knowledge systems and spearheaded by thousands of farmers, NGOs, and some government and academic institutions are proving to enhance food security while conserving agrobiodiversity soil and water resources conservation throughout hundreds of rural communities in the developing world. Case studies from Cuba, Brazil, Philippines, and Africa are presented to demonstrate how the agroecological development paradigm based on the revitalization of small farms which emphasizes diversity, synergy, recycling and integration, and social processes that value community participation and empowerment, proves to be perhaps one of the only viable options to meet present and future food needs. Given the present and predicted near future climate, energy and economic scenarios, agroecology has emerged as one of the most robust pathways towards designing biodiverse, productive, and resilient agroecosystems available today.

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“…There is a general consensus that differences between households in asset endowment, especially land and the control over it, within households are the principal factors that affect household or individual decisions to participate in different livelihood activities (Reardon et al 1992;Dercon 1998;Ellis 2000;Barret et al 2001). Rural people without access to land or with smaller land plots have lesser chances to increase agricultural crop productivity (Feder 1985;Dorward 1999) and are expected to be more likely to diversify their livelihood strategies (Barett et al 2001), for example by acquiring livestock in addition to crop production. Hence, household or individual land ownership and farm size were expected to be inversely related to the decision to keep small ruminants.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-economic determinants of keeping goats and sheep by rural people in southern Benin

et al. 2008

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An understanding of factors influencing the decision of rural people to keep sheep and/or goats is crucial when formulating technologies and policies that support village-based small ruminant production. The knowledge of such factors will also improve assessment of impact intervention strategies on the livelihoods of rural people. Structured questionnaires administered in 228 households were used to study the ownership patterns of small ruminants in southern Benin. The ownership of goats was higher (91%) than sheep (35%) because goats are not affected by any ethnic or cultural restrictions. Goats are also perceived to be a less risky to invest into compared to sheep. Women represented 71% of the keepers of goats. Predictive models of ownership were developed using logistic regression. The results showed that younger household members (p \ 0.05) especially young women (60%) are more likely to own small ruminants. Owners of small ruminants are less likely to be involved in off-farm activities and would often have no access to credit facilities. Gender, ethnicity, and perception of risk associated with species are the major factors affecting people's choice of species. These findings highlight the financing and insurance roles that small ruminants, particularly goats, are playing in the study area. In order to develop suitable technologies and formulate policies to improve productivity and enhance livelihoods, the constraints to goat production need to be identified, and the local knowledge of the keepers should be investigated.

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Farm size and productivity in Malawian smallholder agriculture

Cited by 69 publications

References 13 publications

Exploring opportunities for rural livelihoods and food security in Central Mozambique

Exploring opportunities for rural livelihoods and food security in Central Mozambique

Agroecologically efficient agricultural systems for smallholder farmers: contributions to food sovereignty

Socio-economic determinants of keeping goats and sheep by rural people in southern Benin

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