IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v38y2010i10p1341-1348.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Future of Small Farms

Author

Listed:
  • Wiggins, Steve
  • Kirsten, Johann
  • Llambí, Luis

Abstract

Summary Interest in agriculture for growth and poverty reduction reawakened in the early 2000s made all the keener by the sudden rise in cereals prices on world markets in 2007-08. But is it still possible to drive agricultural growth through small farms, as happened in the green revolution? Whether small farms have a future was debated at a workshop held in Wye, United Kingdom, in June 2005. It concluded that small farm development is not just desirable for poverty reduction, but also feasible, even in changing circumstances and particularly those of more concentrated supply chains with more demanding buyers. That said, while much that needs to be done is straightforward, such as provision of public goods, fostering the institutional innovations to allow small farmers to deal with the emerging supply chains will require patient work, tailored to specific circumstances. The future of all smallholders may well not lie in farming, but the measures to stimulate the rural nonfarm economy and provide jobs for those leaving farming--a favorable rural investment climate, provision of public goods, institutional development--are largely the same as those for agricultural development as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Wiggins, Steve & Kirsten, Johann & Llambí, Luis, 2010. "The Future of Small Farms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1341-1348, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:38:y:2010:i:10:p:1341-1348
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-750X(10)00104-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. A. de Janvry & E. Sadoulet, 2002. "World Poverty and the Role of Agricultural Technology: Direct and Indirect Effects," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 1-26.
    2. World Bank, 2003. "Reaching the Rural Poor : A Renewed Strategy for Rural Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14084, December.
    3. Caroline Ashley & Simon Maxwell, 2001. "Rethinking Rural Development," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 19(4), pages 395-425, December.
    4. John Howell, 1990. "Rural Poverty and External Aid," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 8(3), pages 269-286, September.
    5. Reardon, Thomas & Barrett, Christopher B. & Berdegué, Julio A. & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2009. "Agrifood Industry Transformation and Small Farmers in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 1717-1727, November.
    6. Derek Byerlee & Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2009. "Agriculture for Development: Toward a New Paradigm," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 15-31, September.
    7. Richard N. Cooper & Robert Z. Lawrence, 1975. "The 1972-75 Commodity Boom," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 6(3), pages 671-724.
    8. von Braun, Joachim & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela, 2009. ""Land grabbing" by foreign investors in developing countries: Risks and opportunities," Policy briefs 13, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Unknown, 1961. "The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development," International Journal of Agrarian Affairs, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 3(2), pages 1-1, April.
    10. Heltberg, Rasmus, 1998. "Rural market imperfections and the farm size-- productivity relationship: Evidence from Pakistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(10), pages 1807-1826, October.
    11. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea, 1985. "Farm size, land yields and the agricultural production function: An analysis for fifteen developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 513-534, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Bianca AVRAM POP & Simona SABOU, 2018. "The Role Of Agriculture In Romanian Development," Business Excellence and Management, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 8(1), pages 5-18, March.
    2. von Braun, Joachim & Mirzabaev, Alisher, 2015. "Small Farms: Changing Structures and Roles in Economic Development," Discussion Papers 210464, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    3. Dethier, Jean-Jacques & Effenberger, Alexandra, 2012. "Agriculture and development: A brief review of the literature," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 175-205.
    4. Alain De Janvry, 2010. "Agriculture for development: new paradigm and options for success," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(s1), pages 17-36, November.
    5. Graeub, Benjamin E. & Chappell, M. Jahi & Wittman, Hannah & Ledermann, Samuel & Kerr, Rachel Bezner & Gemmill-Herren, Barbara, 2016. "The State of Family Farms in the World," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-15.
    6. Thapa, Sridhar, 2007. "The relationship between farm size and productivity: empirical evidence from the Nepalese mid-hills," 106th Seminar, October 25-27, 2007, Montpellier, France 7940, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Jayne, T.S. & Burke, William J. & Muyanga, Milu, 2017. "Food System Transformation and Market Evolutions: An Analysis of the Rise of Large-Scale Grain Trading in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Security International Development Working Papers 263195, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    8. Petrick, Martin & Wandel, Jürgen & Karsten, Katharina, 2013. "Rediscovering the Virgin Lands: Agricultural Investment and Rural Livelihoods in a Eurasian Frontier Area," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 164-179.
    9. Tina L. Saitone & Richard J. Sexton & Benoît Malan, 2018. "Price premiums, payment delays, and default risk: understanding developing country farmers’ decisions to market through a cooperative or a private trader," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(3), pages 363-380, May.
    10. Ibrahim Demir, 2016. "The firm size, farm size, and transaction costs: the case of hazelnut farms in Turkey," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(1), pages 81-90, January.
    11. repec:zbw:iamodp:91907 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Tatiana Intigrinova, 2011. "Property regimes for pastoral resources: discussions, practices and problems," Research Paper Series, Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, issue 158P.
    13. Wencheng Li & Lei Wang & Qi Wan & Weijia You & Shaowen Zhang, 2022. "A Configurational Analysis of Family Farm Management Efficiency: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Chamberlin, Jordan, 2008. "It's a small world after all: Defining smallholder agriculture in Ghana," IFPRI discussion papers 823, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. Gustavo Anríquez & Kostas Stamoulis, 2007. "Rural development and poverty reduction: is agriculture still the key?," The Electronic Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, vol. 4(1), pages 5-46.
    16. Mengistu Assefa Wendimu & Arne Henningsen & Tomasz Gerard Czekaj, 2017. "Incentives and moral hazard: plot level productivity of factory-operated and outgrower-operated sugarcane production in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(5), pages 549-560, September.
    17. Daniel Francois Meyer, 2019. "An Assessment Of The Importance Of The Agricultural Sector On Economic Growth And Development In South Africa," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9912288, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    18. Omamo, S. W., 2016. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 6 - Why food and nutrition security matters for inclusive structural and rural transformation," IFAD Research Series 280044, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    19. Sana Bensalk, 2012. "Liaison des ménages agricoles locaux avec des firmes étrangères via le marché du travail local : déterminants et corrélation avec le bien-être. Le cas du secteur maraîcher au Maroc," Post-Print hal-02745857, HAL.
    20. Van Rooyen, C.J., 2014. "Towards 2050: Trends and Scenarios for African Agribusiness," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 17(B), pages 1-21, July.
    21. Wanjala, Bernadette M. & Muradian, Roldan, 2013. "Can Big Push Interventions Take Small-Scale Farmers out of Poverty? Insights from the Sauri Millennium Village in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 147-160.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    small farm; growth; poverty;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wdevel:v:38:y:2010:i:10:p:1341-1348. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.