IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v99y2020ics0264837719311123.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Farm size and Land use efficiency in the Brazilian Amazon

Author

Listed:
  • Ferreira, Marcelo Dias Paes
  • Féres, José Gustavo

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between farm size and land use efficiency in the Brazilian Amazon. Based on data from the 2006 Brazilian Agricultural Census, we estimated a stochastic production frontier model which allowed us to quantify the excessive use of agricultural land. Our results suggest that there is plenty of room for land use intensification, which would allow agricultural expansion without further deforestation pressures. We also observed a “U-shaped” relationship between farm size and land use efficiency. However, the turning point of the relationship is far above the typical size of agricultural establishments in the Brazilian Amazon as land use efficiency reached its minimum level at approximately 8,000 ha. For practical purposes, our estimates are in line with previous results that found a negative relationship between farm size and land use efficiency. This means that the current process of land concentration observed in the region would result in increased land use inefficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferreira, Marcelo Dias Paes & Féres, José Gustavo, 2020. "Farm size and Land use efficiency in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:99:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719311123
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104901
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837719311123
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104901?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kalirajan, K P & Shand, R T, 1999. "Frontier Production Functions and Technical Efficiency Measures," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 149-172, April.
    2. Barrett, Christopher B., 1996. "On price risk and the inverse farm size-productivity relationship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 193-215, December.
    3. Araujo, Claudio & Combes, Jean-Louis & Féres, José Gustavo, 2019. "Determinants of Amazon deforestation: the role of off-farm income," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 138-156, April.
    4. Helfand, Steven M. & Levine, Edward S., 2004. "Farm size and the determinants of productive efficiency in the Brazilian Center-West," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 31(2-3), pages 241-249, December.
    5. Barrett, Christopher B. & Bellemare, Marc F. & Hou, Janet Y., 2010. "Reconsidering Conventional Explanations of the Inverse Productivity-Size Relationship," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 88-97, January.
    6. Munir Ahmad & Boris E. Bravo-Ureta, 1995. "An Econometric Decomposition of Dairy Output Growth," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 77(4), pages 914-921.
    7. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 2008. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivity Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195183528, Decembrie.
    8. Thomas Masterson, 2007. "Productivity, Technical Efficiency, and Farm Size in Paraguayan Agriculture," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_490, Levy Economics Institute.
    9. Tang, Jianjun & Folmer, Henk & Xue, Jianhong, 2015. "Technical and allocative efficiency of irrigation water use in the Guanzhong Plain, China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 43-52.
    10. Townsend, R. F. & Kirsten, J. & Vink, N., 1998. "Farm size, productivity and returns to scale in agriculture revisited: a case study of wine producers in South Africa," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 19(1-2), pages 175-180, September.
    11. Marchand, Sébastien, 2012. "The relationship between technical efficiency in agriculture and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 166-175.
    12. Rada, Nicholas E. & Fuglie, Keith O., 2019. "New perspectives on farm size and productivity," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 147-152.
    13. Araujo, Claudio & Bonjean, Catherine Araujo & Combes, Jean-Louis & Combes Motel, Pascale & Reis, Eustaquio J., 2009. "Property rights and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2461-2468, June.
    14. Stijn Reinhard & C. A. Knox Lovell & Geert Thijssen, 2002. "Analysis of Environmental Efficiency Variation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1054-1065.
    15. Meeusen, Wim & van den Broeck, Julien, 1977. "Efficiency Estimation from Cobb-Douglas Production Functions with Composed Error," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 18(2), pages 435-444, June.
    16. Pacheco, Pablo, 2009. "Agrarian Reform in the Brazilian Amazon: Its Implications for Land Distribution and Deforestation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1337-1347, August.
    17. Assunção, Juliano & Braido, Luis H.B., 2007. "AJAE Appendix: Testing Household-Specific Explanations for the Inverse Productivity Relationship," American Journal of Agricultural Economics APPENDICES, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(4), pages 1-8, November.
    18. Bardhan, Pranab K, 1973. "Size, Productivity, and Returns to Scale: An Analysis of Farm-Level Data in Indian Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(6), pages 1370-1386, Nov.-Dec..
    19. Joaquim Bento de Souza Ferreira Filho & Luis Ribera & Mark Horridge, 2015. "Deforestation Control and Agricultural Supply in Brazil," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(2), pages 589-601.
    20. Mendelsohn, Robert, 1994. "Property Rights and Tropical Deforestation," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 750-756, Supplemen.
    21. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    22. Heath Henderson, 2015. "Considering Technical and Allocative Efficiency in the Inverse Farm Size–Productivity Relationship," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(2), pages 442-469, June.
    23. Otsuki, Tsunehiro & Hardie, Ian W. & Reis, Eustáquio J., 2002. "The implication of property rights for joint agriculture–timber productivity in the Brazilian Amazon," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 299-323, May.
    24. Amartya K. Sen, 1966. "Peasants and Dualism with or without Surplus Labor," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74, pages 425-425.
    25. Huang, Wei & Bruemmer, Bernhard & Huntsinger, Lynn, 2016. "Incorporating measures of grassland productivity into efficiency estimates for livestock grazing on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-11.
    26. Federico Belotti & Silvio Daidone & Giuseppe Ilardi & Vincenzo Atella, 2013. "Stochastic frontier analysis using Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 13(4), pages 718-758, December.
    27. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1986. "Access to Capital and Agrarian Production Organisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 482-498, June.
    28. S Reinhard & G Thijssen, 2000. "Nitrogen efficiency of Dutch dairy farms: a shadow cost system approach," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 27(2), pages 167-186, June.
    29. G. Karagiannis & V. Tzouvelekas & A. Xepapadeas, 2003. "Measuring Irrigation Water Efficiency with a Stochastic Production Frontier," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 26(1), pages 57-72, September.
    30. Ludewigs, Thomas & D'antona, Alvaro de Oliveira & Brondízio, Eduardo Sonnewend & Hetrick, Scott, 2009. "Agrarian Structure and Land-cover Change Along the Lifespan of Three Colonization Areas in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1348-1359, August.
    31. Rada, Nicholas & Helfand, Steven & Magalhães, Marcelo, 2019. "Agricultural productivity growth in Brazil: Large and small farms excel," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 176-185.
    32. Abedullah & Shahzad Kouser & Matin Qaim, 2015. "Bt Cotton, Pesticide Use and Environmental Efficiency in Pakistan," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(1), pages 66-86, February.
    33. K. P. Kalirajan & R. T. Shand, 1999. "Frontier Production Functions and Technical Efficiency Measures," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 149-172, April.
    34. Juliano J. Assunção & Luis H. B. Braido, 2007. "Testing Household-Specific Explanations for the Inverse Productivity Relationship," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(4), pages 980-990.
    35. Zhang, Qian & Sun, Zhongxiao & Huang, Wei, 2018. "Does land perform well for corn planting? An empirical study on land use efficiency in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 273-280.
    36. Battese, George E. & Coelli, Tim J., 1988. "Prediction of firm-level technical efficiencies with a generalized frontier production function and panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 387-399, July.
    37. Reinhard, Stijn & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Thijssen, Geert J., 2000. "Environmental efficiency with multiple environmentally detrimental variables; estimated with SFA and DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 287-303, March.
    38. Luis R. Murillo‐Zamorano, 2004. "Economic Efficiency and Frontier Techniques," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 33-77, February.
    39. Stijn Reinhard & C.A. Knox Lovell & Geert Thijssen, 1999. "Econometric Estimation of Technical and Environmental Efficiency: An Application to Dutch Dairy Farms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(1), pages 44-60.
    40. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    41. Ozarisoy, Bertug, 2018. "An investigation of urban process and mass housing estates development through topographical formations in urban peripheries: A case study of Famagusta, Cyprus," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 481-495.
    42. Feder, Gershon, 1985. "The relation between farm size and farm productivity : The role of family labor, supervision and credit constraints," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2-3), pages 297-313, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yin Ma & Minrui Zheng & Xinqi Zheng & Yi Huang & Feng Xu & Xiaoli Wang & Jiantao Liu & Yongqiang Lv & Wenchao Liu, 2023. "Land Use Efficiency Assessment under Sustainable Development Goals: A Systematic Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Mengna Li & Li Tan & Xi Yang, 2023. "The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Cultivated Land Use Eco-Efficiency: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, August.
    3. Aiping Wang & Weifen Lin & Bei Liu & Hui Wang & Hong Xu, 2021. "Does Smart City Construction Improve the Green Utilization Efficiency of Urban Land?," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Haokun Wang & Hong Chen & Tuyen Thi Tran & Shuai Qin, 2022. "An Analysis of the Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Diversity of Grain Production Resource Utilization Efficiency under the Constraint of Carbon Emissions: Evidence from Major Grain-Producing Areas ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-25, June.
    5. Xiao Lu & Yi Qu & Piling Sun & Wei Yu & Wenlong Peng, 2020. "Green Transition of Cultivated Land Use in the Yellow River Basin: A Perspective of Green Utilization Efficiency Evaluation," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, November.
    6. Zehui Chen & Qianxi Zhang & Fei Li & Jinli Shi, 2021. "Comprehensive Evaluation of Land Use Benefit in the Yellow River Basin from 1995 to 2018," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferreira, M. & Feres, J.G., 2018. "Farm Size and Productive Efficiency in Brazilian Amazon," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277289, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Helfand, Steven M. & Taylor, Matthew P.H., 2021. "The inverse relationship between farm size and productivity: Refocusing the debate," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    3. Taylor, Matthew P.H. & Helfand, Steven M., 2021. "The Farm Size – Productivity Relationship in the Wake of Market Reform: An Analysis of Mexican Family Farms," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315138, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Aragón, Fernando M. & Restuccia, Diego & Rud, Juan Pablo, 2022. "Are small farms really more productive than large farms?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    5. Omotilewa, Oluwatoba J. & Jayne, T.S. & Muyanga, Milu & Aromolaran, Adebayo B. & Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. & Awokuse, Titus, 2021. "A revisit of farm size and productivity: Empirical evidence from a wide range of farm sizes in Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    6. Gautam, Madhur & Ahmed, Mansur, 2019. "Too small to be beautiful? The farm size and productivity relationship in Bangladesh," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 165-175.
    7. Steven Helfand & Matthew Taylor, 2018. "The Inverse Relationship between Farm Size and Productivity: Refocusing the Debate," Working Papers 201811, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    8. C. S. C. Sekhar & Namrata Thapa, 2023. "Rural market imperfections in India: Revisiting old debates with new evidence," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(5), September.
    9. Ayala Wineman & Thomas S. Jayne, 2021. "Factor Market Activity and the Inverse Farm Size-Productivity Relationship in Tanzania," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(3), pages 443-464, March.
    10. Cheng, Shen & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Zheng, Zhihao & Sun, Hao, 2017. "Land Consolidation, Productivity and Technical Efficiency: Evidence from a Cross Section of Farm Households in China," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258533, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Paul, Satya & Shankar, Sriram, 2018. "Modelling Efficiency Effects in a True Fixed Effects Stochastic Frontier," MPRA Paper 87437, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Liu, Yanyan & Singh, Sudhir, 2015. "Labor Market Performance and the Farm Size-Productivity Relationship in Rural India," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212720, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Klasen, Stephan & Reimers, Malte, 2017. "Looking at Pro-Poor Growth from an Agricultural Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 147-168.
    14. Fang Xia & Lingling Hou & Songqing Jin & Dongqing Li, 2020. "Land size and productivity in the livestock sector: evidence from pastoral areas in China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(3), pages 867-888, July.
    15. Julien, Jacques C. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Rada, Nicholas E., 2019. "Assessing farm performance by size in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 153-164.
    16. Gourlay, Sydney & Kilic, Talip & Lobell, David B., 2019. "A new spin on an old debate: Errors in farmer-reported production and their implications for inverse scale - Productivity relationship in Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    17. Bevis, Leah EM. & Barrett, Christopher B., 2020. "Close to the edge: High productivity at plot peripheries and the inverse size-productivity relationship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    18. Klaus Deininger & Songqing Jin & Yanyan Liu & Sudhir K Singh, 2016. "Can Labor Market Imperfections Explain Changes in the Inverse Farm Size–Productivity Relationship? Longitudinal Evidence from Rural India," Working Papers id:10987, eSocialSciences.
    19. Huang, Wei & Bruemmer, Bernhard & Huntsinger, Lynn, 2016. "Incorporating measures of grassland productivity into efficiency estimates for livestock grazing on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-11.
    20. Donald F. Larson & Keijiro Otsuka & Tomoya Matsumoto & Talip Kilic, 2014. "Should African rural development strategies depend on smallholder farms? An exploration of the inverse-productivity hypothesis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(3), pages 355-367, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:99:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719311123. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.