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Are small farms more performant than larger ones in developing countries?
P A Garzón Delvaux1, L Riesgo2,3, S Gomez Y Paloma2
1European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 41092 Seville, Spain. p_a_garzon@yahoo.co.uk.
Science Advances
|October 10, 2020
Summary
Farm size and agricultural performance depend on how performance is measured. Larger farms show better net value and efficiency, contradicting the inverse relationship often seen with gross output. This inverse relationship is declining over time due to structural changes.
Area of Science:
- Agricultural Economics
- Rural Development
- Econometrics
Background:
- The relationship between farm size and agricultural performance is a long-standing debate.
- The inverse relationship (IR) hypothesis suggests smaller farms are more efficient.
- Previous studies have yielded mixed results, necessitating a comprehensive review.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the relationship between land area and agricultural performance using meta-regression.
- To investigate how different performance indicators influence the observed relationship.
- To examine temporal trends in the farm size-performance relationship.
Main Methods:
- Conducted meta-regressions on approximately 1000 cases from 1997-2018.
- Analyzed data based on various performance indicators (net value, efficiency, gross output).
- Assessed changes in the relationship over time.
Main Results:
- The direction of the farm size-performance link is indicator-dependent.
- Larger farms are more performant by net value and efficiency metrics.
- Gross output indicators predominantly support an inverse relationship (IR).
- A decreasing trend in reported IR was observed over time.
- Agricultural structural changes and improved assessment techniques likely explain the declining IR.
Conclusions:
- The inverse relationship (IR) is not a universal constant in agricultural economics.
- Policy decisions regarding agricultural support should consider diverse performance metrics.
- Re-evaluating the centrality of IR in rural development policy is recommended.
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