Impacts of land fragmentation on input use, crop yield and production efficiency in the mountains of Nepal

Abstract

Amidst the growing concern about agricultural underdevelopment in developing countries, this study addresses the causes and trends of land fragmentation. It analyses the impact of land fragmentation on input use efficiency, crop yield and production efficiency, especially with reference to a mountain district in Nepal. Necessary information was obtained from discussions with groups and individual land users and a questionnaire survey covering 184 households representing different degrees of land fragmentation. The analyses focused on two staple crops, namely, maize and paddy. The analysis revealed an increasing trend in the number of land parcels and a decreasing trend in the size of land parcels, primarily due to the heredity tradition of equal division of land among the inheritors. Other factors such as land purchase have also contributed to land fragmentation. Yield analysis revealed that small parcels are more productive than large parcels, because of higher applications of inputs. Consistent with this, small parcels also appeared to have a higher production efficiency than large parcels-considering both benefit and cost of purchased inputs-indicating a positive impact of land fragmentation on farmers' income. However, an analysis considering also the cost of inputs produced on the farm revealed an opposite trend, that is, on large land parcels, production is more efficient than on small parcels. In view of the need to also recover the cost of the inputs produced on-farm, it is concluded that land fragmentation-leading to small plots-has a negative impact on production efficiency, thereby constraining agricultural development.

A fuzzy intelligent system for land consolidation – a case study in Shunde, China

“…Agrarian spatial planning includes the provision of the necessary infrastructure such as roads, irrigation systems, drainage systems, landscaping, environmental management, village renewal and soil conservation (Thomas, 2006a). LC aims to increase land-processing efficiency (Blaikie and Sadeque, 2000;Niroula and Thapa, 2007) and support rural development (Sklenicka, 2006). Thus, LC is very important for rural development.…”

The proximity of a field plot and land-use choice: implications for land consolidation

“…Myyrä and Pietola (2002) found no connection between the average distance to field plots and farm profitability in Finland. Niroula and Thapa (2007) reported an association between smaller plots and higher yields. These conflicting results might reflect the complexity of the issue.…”

“…Although the strong general hypothesis is that the larger the plot size, the more efficient production will be, research results have been mixed. Decreasing agricultural productivity has been associated with the increasing distance (Bently, 1987;Najafi, 2000;Lerman, 2002;Vitikainen, 2004;Niroula and Thapa, 2007;Zhang and Wang, 2009;Falco et al,2010). An unfavourable field plot structure also reduces investments in land improvements (Mwakubo et al, 2005).On the other hand Wu et al demonstrated that the size of individual plots was not a significant factor for the productivity of grain production in China.…”

Alternative options of land consolidation in the mountains of Nepal: An analysis based on stakeholders’ opinions

“…This trend has seriously threatened the sustainability of food security and livelihoods of millions of people who depend on agriculture. Land fragmentation not only deprives the land from proper care, but also weakens economic competitiveness of farmers through increased cost of labor and other inputs, leading to reduced net income (Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987;Paudel, 2001;Niroula and Thapa, 2007).…”