IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae15/212721.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Future of Small Farms in Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Otsuka, Keijiro
  • Liu, Yanyan
  • Yamauchi, Futoshi

Abstract

Farms throughout Asia are predominantly small. By nature, small farms use labour-intensive production methods. The question arises as to the viability of small farms in the face of the rapidly increasing wage rate in most Asian countries. There is also indication that the production efficiency of small farms has declined relative to large farms in many other Asian economies, indicating the increasing disadvantage of small farms in Asia. Therefore, this study argues that unless new policy measures are taken to expand farm size, Asia as a whole is likely to lose comparative advantage in agriculture and become an importer of food grains in the future

Suggested Citation

  • Otsuka, Keijiro & Liu, Yanyan & Yamauchi, Futoshi, 2015. "The Future of Small Farms in Asia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212721, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae15:212721
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.212721
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/212721/files/SmallfarmAsia_June2015.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.212721?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Janvry, Alain & Gordillo, Gustavo & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & Platteau, Jean-Philippe (ed.), 2001. "Access to Land, Rural Poverty, and Public Action," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199242177.
    2. Keijiro Otsuka & Yanyan Liu & Futoshi Yamauchi, 2013. "Factor Endowments, Wage Growth, and Changing Food Self-Sufficiency: Evidence from Country-Level Panel Data," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1252-1258.
    3. Zhang, Xiaobo & Yang, Jin & Wang, Shenglin, 2011. "China has reached the Lewis turning point," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 542-554.
    4. Yamauchi, Futoshi, 2014. "Wage growth, landholding, and mechanization in agriculture : evidence from Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6789, The World Bank.
    5. Jin Yang & Zuhui Huang & Xiaobo Zhang & Thomas Reardon, 2013. "The Rapid Rise of Cross-Regional Agricultural Mechanization Services in China," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1245-1251.
    6. Keijiro Otsuka, 2013. "Food insecurity, income inequality, and the changing comparative advantage in world agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(s1), pages 7-18, November.
    7. 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.
    8. Pandey, Sushil & Byerlee, Derek R. & Dawe, David & Dobermann, Achim & Mohanty, Samarendu & Rozelle, (ed.), 2010. "Rice in the Global Economy: Strategic Research and Policy Issues for Food Security," IRRI Books, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), number 164488.
    9. Jha, Raghbendra & Rhodes, Mark J., 1999. "Some Imperatives of the Green Revolution: Technical Efficiency and Ownership of Inputs in Indian Agriculture," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 57-64, April.
    10. Benjamin, Dwayne, 1992. "Household Composition, Labor Markets, and Labor Demand: Testing for Separation in Agricultural Household Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 287-322, March.
    11. 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.
    12. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1986. "Access to Capital and Agrarian Production Organisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 482-498, June.
    13. Yoshimi Kuroda, 1987. "The Production Structure and Demand for Labor in Postwar Japanese Agriculture, 1952–82," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 69(2), pages 328-337.
    14. Derek Byerlee & Klaus Deininger, 2013. "The Rise of Large Farms in Land-Abundant Countries: Do They Have a Future?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Stein T. Holden & Keijiro Otsuka & Klaus Deininger (ed.), Land Tenure Reform in Asia and Africa, chapter 14, pages 333-353, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Key, Nigel & Runsten, David, 1999. "Contract Farming, Smallholders, and Rural Development in Latin America: The Organization of Agroprocessing Firms and the Scale of Outgrower Production," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 381-401, February.
    16. Michael Kevane, 1996. "Agrarian Structure and Agricultural Practice: Typology and Application to Western Sudan," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(1), pages 236-245.
    17. Gorton, Matthew & Davidova, Sophia, 2004. "Farm productivity and efficiency in the CEE applicant countries: a synthesis of results," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 1-16, January.
    18. Hayami, Yujiro & Kawagoe, Toshihiko, 1989. "Farm mechanization, scale economies and polarization : The Japanese experience," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 221-239, October.
    19. Raghbendra Jha & Puneet Chitkara & Santanu Gupta, 2000. "Productivity, technical and allocative efficiency and farm size in wheat farming in India: a DEA approach," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1-5.
    20. Shingo Kimura & Keijiro Otsuka & Tetsushi Sonobe & Scott Rozelle, 2011. "Efficiency of Land Allocation through Tenancy Markets: Evidence from China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 485-510.
    21. Scott Rozelle & Johan F.M. Swinnen, 2004. "Success and Failure of Reform: Insights from the Transition of Agriculture," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(2), pages 404-456, June.
    22. Bliss, C. J. & Stern, N. H., 1982. "Palanpur: The Economy of an Indian Village," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198284192.
    23. Emmanuel Skoufias, 1995. "Household Resources, Transaction Costs, and Adjustment through Land Tenancy," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 71(1), pages 42-56.
    24. 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.
    25. Otsuka, Keijiro & Chuma, Hiroyuki & Hayami, Yujiro, 1992. "Land and Labor Contracts in Agrarian Economies: Theories and Facts," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 1965-2018, December.
    26. Raghbendra Jha & Raghav Gaiha & Anil B. Deolalikar (ed.), 2014. "Handbook on Food," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14879.
    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. Keijiro Otsuka, 2014. "Viability of small-scale farms in Asia," Chapters, in: Raghbendra Jha & Raghav Gaiha & Anil B. Deolalikar (ed.), Handbook on Food, chapter 18, pages 462-481, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Otsuka, Keijiro, 2012. "Presidential Address at 27th International Conference of Agricultural Economists, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil : Food Insecurity, Income Inequality, and the Changing Comparative Advantage in World Agricultur," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 127068, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Meilin Ma & Richard J. Sexton, 2021. "Modern agricultural value chains and the future of smallholder farming systems," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(4), pages 591-606, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus, 2014. "Is there a farm-size productivity relationship in African agriculture ? evidence from Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6770, The World Bank.
    6. Keijiro Otsuka, 2021. "Changing Relationship between Farm Size and Productivity and Its Implications for Philippine Agriculture," Discussion Papers 2102, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    7. 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.
    8. Holden, Stein T. & Ali, Daniel & Deininger, Klaus & Hilhorst, Thea, 2016. "A Land Tenure Module for LSMS," CLTS Working Papers 1/16, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 16 Oct 2019.
    9. Ayala-Cantu, Luciano & Morando, Bruno, 2020. "Rental markets, gender, and land certificates: Evidence from Vietnam," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    10. Klaus Deininger & Songqing Jin & Yanyan Liu & Sudhir K. Singh, 2018. "Can Labor-Market Imperfections Explain Changes in the Inverse Farm Size–Productivity Relationship? Longitudinal Evidence from Rural India," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 94(2), pages 239-258.
    11. Wang, Xiaobing & Yamauchi, Futoshi & Otsuka, Keijiro & Huang, Jikun, 2016. "Wage Growth, Landholding, and Mechanization in Chinese Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 30-45.
    12. Baland, Jean-Marie & Gaspart, Frederic & Platteau, Jean-Philippe & Place, Frank, 2007. "The Distributive Impact of Land Markets in Uganda," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(2), pages 283-311, January.
    13. Kilic, Talip & Zezza, Alberto & Carletto, Calogero & Savastano, Sara, 2017. "Missing(ness) in Action: Selectivity Bias in GPS-Based Land Area Measurements," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 143-157.
    14. 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).
    15. Klaus Deininger & Songqing Jin, 2008. "Land Sales and Rental Markets in Transition: Evidence from Rural Vietnam," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(1), pages 67-101, February.
    16. Johan Swinnen, & Kristine Van Herck & Liesbet Vranken, 2014. "The Diversity of Land Institutions in Europe," LICOS Discussion Papers 35514, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    17. 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.
    18. Deininger, Klaus & Feder, Gershon, 2001. "Land institutions and land markets," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 288-331, Elsevier.
    19. Gafaro, Margarita & Ibanez, Ana Maria & Zarruk, David, 2012. "Equidad y eficiencia rural en Colombia: una discusión de políticas para el acceso a la tierra," Documentos CEDE Series 146477, Universidad de Los Andes, Economics Department.
    20. Ateka, Josiah & Onono-Okelo, Perez Ayieko & Etyang, Martin, 2021. "Does the inverse farm size productivity hypothesis hold for perennial monocrop systems in developing countries? Evidence from Kenya," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 16(3), September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Farm Management; International Development;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ags:iaae15:212721. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    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.