Transformation in the size and distribution of farmland operated by household and other farms in select countries of sub-Saharan Africa

For select countries in sub-Saharan Africa, we compare various sources of information on agricultural land in an attempt to determine what share of total agricultural land may be operated by corporate farms or government enterprises. We also combine various data on agricultural land and households in order to gain a better understanding of the number and distribution of household and non-household farms and farmland in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. We also examine changes in farmland distribution among household farms for select countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Whereas most literature on changes in farm size focuses on the average farm size, we go beyond looking at averages to consider the entire distribution of household farms. We find that a significant share of agricultural land is likely operated by non-household farms in a select set of African countries. There is a need to redouble efforts to conduct surveys of all farms as opposed to simply household farms; efforts such as the Agricultural Information System (AGRIS) are timely. LSMS and DHS data confirm the finding that average farm sizes have decreased in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa, although the decrease results from various types of changes in farmland distribution. Previous estimates of the number of farms in sub-Saharan Africa are out of date and we estimate that there are more than 77 million farms in that region.