ABSTRACT

In this study, we undertake a comparative analysis to re-examine the inverse relationship hypothesis between farm size and land productivity, paying special attention to possible errors in land measurement and the role of technical efficiency (TE). Our primary focus is on the distribution of TE over farm size, so that we may assess the productivity and efficiency relationship with land that has been discussed extensively in the literature. We hypothesize that the distribution of TE over farm sizes is non-linear. To test our hypothesis, we use the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture and a stochastic production frontier with Greene’s (2005) true random effects framework. Specifically, we ask if smaller farms – within the range of farm sizes prevalent in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda – are more technically efficient than larger ones after accounting for a number of attributes often ignored such as measures of the production environment, including transportation infrastructure, public extension visits, among other characteristics. The results confirm a robust overall inverse relationship between farm size and land productivity in all three countries. However, the relationship between farm size and TE is positive across some size segments, resulting in a U-shape distribution.

摘要

在本研究中，我们进行了比较分析，以重新审视农场规模与土地生产力之间的反比关系假设，特别关注土地测量中可能存在的误差和技术效率 (TE) 的作用。我们的主要重点是 TE 在农场规模上的分布，以便我们可以评估文献中广泛讨论的与土地的生产力和效率关系。我们假设 TE 在农场规模上的分布是非线性的。为了检验我们的假设，我们使用了生活水平测量研究——农业综合调查和带有格林 (2005) 真随机效应框架的随机生产前沿。具体而言，我们询问较小的农场——在坦桑尼亚马拉维普遍存在的农场规模范围内，和乌干达——在考虑了许多经常被忽视的属性后，比较大的国家更具技术效率，例如生产环境的衡量标准，包括交通基础设施、公共推广访问等特征。结果证实了所有三个国家的农场规模和土地生产力之间存在强大的整体反比关系。然而，农场规模和 TE 之间的关系在某些规模细分市场上呈正相关，从而导致 U 形分布。