•Systematic review and meta-analysis of link between production diversity and diets.•Positive associations found in some situations, but not in others.•Mean marginal effect of production diversity on ...dietary diversity positive but very small.•Increasing production diversity not a universally-applicable tool to improve nutrition.
Undernutrition and low dietary diversity remain big problems in many developing countries. A large proportion of the people affected are smallholder farmers. Hence, it is often assumed that further diversifying small-farm production would be a good strategy to improve nutrition, but the evidence is mixed. We systematically review studies that have analyzed associations between production diversity, dietary diversity, and nutrition in smallholder households and provide a meta-analysis of estimated effects. We identified 45 original studies reporting results from 26 countries and using various indicators of diets and nutrition. While in the majority of these studies positive results are highlighted, less than 20% of the studies report consistently positive and significant associations between production diversity and dietary diversity and/or nutrition. Around 60% report positive associations only for certain subsamples or indicators, the rest found no significant associations at all. The average marginal effect of production diversity on dietary diversity is positive but small. The mean effect of 0.062 implies that farms would have to produce 16 additional crop or livestock species to increase dietary diversity by one food group. The mean effect is somewhat larger in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions, but even in Africa farms would have to produce around 9 additional species to increase dietary diversity by one food group. While results may look differently under very specific conditions, there is little evidence to support the assumption that increasing farm production diversity is a highly effective strategy to improve smallholder diets and nutrition in most or all situations.
•Effects of commercialization on poverty are analyzed in Kenyan small farm sector.•Commercialization increases income and reduces multidimensional poverty.•Income gains are larger for better-off ...households.•Effects in terms of reducing basic needs deprivations are strongest among poorest households.•Commercialization contributes effectively to achieving sustainable development goals.
Global poverty rates have declined considerably, but the number of people living in extreme poverty remains high. Many of the world’s poor are smallholder farmers. Agricultural commercialization – meaning a shift from subsistence to more market-oriented farming – can play a central role in improving smallholder welfare. Previous studies evaluated the impact of agricultural commercialization on income poverty, but whether income gains from commercialization are really used for satisfying basic needs was hardly analyzed up till now. Here, we evaluate the effect of commercialization on income poverty, as well as on the multidimensional poverty index that looks at deprivations in terms of education, nutrition, health, and other dimensions of living standard. Using data from 805 farm households in Kenya, we estimate average treatment effects and also analyze impact heterogeneity with quantile regressions. Results show that commercialization reduces both income poverty and multidimensional poverty. The magnitude of the income gains is positively correlated with income level, meaning that market-linkage support for marginalized farms may be needed to avoid rising inequality. However, the effect in terms of reducing basic needs deprivations is stronger for the poorest households, suggesting that agricultural commercialization contributes effectively to achieving the sustainable development goals.
•In Indonesia, oil palm expansion is largely driven by smallholder farmers.•We analyze effects of adoption on farm household living standards in Sumatra.•Oil palm adoption increases consumption ...expenditures and improves nutrition.•Part of the total effects is attributable to oil palm adopters expanding their farm size.•Using quantile regressions, we find significant impact heterogeneity.
Oil palm is one of the most rapidly expanding crops throughout the humid tropics. In Indonesia, the expansion is largely driven by smallholder farmers. While recent research has studied effects for the environment and climate change, socioeconomic impacts in the small farm sector have hardly been analyzed. Here, we address this research gap by analyzing effects of oil palm adoption on farm household living standards and nutrition in Sumatra. Using survey data and econometric models, we estimate average impacts, impact pathways, and impact heterogeneity. Results show that oil palm adoption improves household living standards and nutrition. Mean impacts on food and non-food expenditures, as well as on calorie consumption and dietary quality, are all positive and significant. A sizeable part of the total effects is attributable to oil palm adopters expanding their farm size rather than realizing higher profits per hectare. Oil palm has lower labor requirements than alternative crops (especially rubber), so that adopting farmers are able to manage larger land areas. Labor saved through switching from rubber to oil palm is also used to increase off-farm incomes. Impact heterogeneity is analyzed with quantile regressions. We find positive effects of oil palm adoption across the entire expenditure distribution. However, the absolute gains in total expenditures and non-food expenditures are larger for the better-off, suggesting that oil palm may contribute to rising inequality.
•Agricultural diversification increases household dietary diversification.•The magnitude of the effect is, however, small.•Market orientation has no significant effect on dietary diversity.•Education ...and overall income effects have strong effect on dietary diversity.•Child nutrition status is not clearly linked to general dietary diversity.
Household agricultural production for self-consumption is often highlighted by nutritionists as the main route to increasing household food security and nutritional status, especially for the poor in developing countries. At the same time, the income gains from specializing in fewer crops and selling the surplus product could be an alternate route to improved nutritional status. We use Tanzanian data to study linkages between the diversity and market orientation of a household’s agricultural production, the quality and diversity of their diets, and the nutritional status of their children. We find that diversifying a household’s agricultural production significantly increases diversity in that household’s diet, but the positive nutritional effects are small. We also find that market orientation has no clear effect on dietary diversity. At the same time, however, the nutritional status of children is not found to be linked clearly to general dietary diversity. On the other hand, factors such as education and overall income have strong and significant effects on both household dietary diversity and child nutrition. Thus, policies for increasing the quality of children’s diets, improving children’s nutritional status and enhancing the overall dietary diversity of farm households should incorporate those factors.
There is growing evidence that organic farming is a rapidly expanding economic sector in the U.S. However, an unanswered question is whether organic farmers are better off than conventional farmers ...when it comes to farm household income. Using large farm-level data and a matching estimator, this study explores the relationship between organic certification and farm household income with its various components. Contrary to expectations, certified organic farmers do not earn significantly higher household income than conventional farmers. Though certified organic crop producers earn higher revenue, they incur higher production expenses as well. In particular, certified organic producers spend significantly more on labor, insurance, and marketing charges than conventional farmers. The results suggest that the lack of economic incentives can be an important barrier to conversion to organic farming.
► Few studies have examined profitability of organic farming in the U.S. ► We estimate the effect of organic certification on farm income and production cost. ► We employ a nonparametric matching estimator. ► Organic crop producers earn higher revenue, but they incur higher production cost. ► Organic crop producers spend more on labor, marketing and insurance.
•Myanmar has experienced extremely rapid agricultural mechanization since 2011.•Agricultural machinery is close to scale-neutral at point of use.•Small farm sizes do not hinder uptake due to ...availability of outsourcing services.•Demand for machines is driven by labor scarcity, timeliness, risk, drudgery aversion.•Supply of machine outsourcing services facilitated by reforms to trade, banking, land tenure.
The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in the role of mechanization in agricultural development. This literature has given rise to debates over the design of institutions and policies to facilitate accelerated mechanization, the role of outsourcing services in overcoming problems of access to machinery, and questions regarding the future of smallholder agriculture. We contribute to these debates using two pairs of complementary demand side (farm household) and supply side (agricultural machinery retailer) surveys, implemented in Myanmar in 2016 and 2017 across two major agro-ecological zones. Our analysis provides evidence that extremely rapid agricultural mechanization took place during the period of political and economic reforms from 2011 to 2020. In both zones surveyed, use of machinery for land preparation, harvesting, and threshing was close to scale-neutral due to a dynamic outsourcing services market. Rather than representing a single transformational change, mechanization’s broad appeal to farm households results from an accumulation of incremental, overlapping, complementary advantages. These include labor savings, reduced drudgery, convenience, increased speed and timeliness of operations, improved ability to manage weather-related risks, and reduced loss of grain during harvesting. We provide examples of policies on trade, finance, and land tenure that contributed to this transformation with practical implications for ongoing policy debates on mechanization in other countries, and suggest some generalizable lessons.
Rising real wages create an incentive for relatively large landholders to increase their scale of operations allowing them to mechanize and save labor (or to allow farmers to work more off farm). ...Using panel data collected in 2000 and 2008 from 951 farm households in 6 provinces in China, the empirical analysis shows that (i) changes in the willingness to pay to rent in land is systematically related to real off-farm wage growth and the relationship depends on the initial farm size, and (ii) the introduction of machines to substitute for labor became active in the areas where real wages increased fast but was significantly constrained by land size per plot (and the number of plots), that is, land fragmentation. Our results imply that when real wages rapidly increase and labor shortage becomes serious, fragmented land holdings significantly constrain the decision to mechanize and consolidating fragmented lands can lead to higher efficiency through mechanization.
•When real wages rise, farmers need to substitute for labor by machines.•The above substitution requires an increase in farm size to realize scale economies.•In this setup, large farmers have advantage to mechanize.•However, fragmented land holdings significantly constraint the ability to mechanize.
•Study the impact of participation in land rental markets on agricultural labor productivity in rural China.•Using nationally representative farm-level data.•Use propensity score matching (PSM) and ...mediation analysis method.•Renting in land increased farm households’ ALP by 43%.•An indirect effect of land rental on labor productivity is mainly through the single-variable mediation pathway.
Agricultural labor productivity (ALP) remains low in China. The unique land tenure system and fast-growing land rental market in China provides a new perspective in understanding the ALP problem. This study investigates the impact of participation in the land rental market on operator households’ agricultural labor productivity in rural China. Using national representative farm-level data, propensity matching score (PSM), and mediation analysis, we find that farm households’ ALP has improved about 43% after renting in farmland. The mediation analysis reveals that farm size in cultivation, family farm labor input, and capital services input are mediating variables through which land rental affects ALP. The indirect effect of land rental on labor productivity is mainly through the single-variable mediation path, namely farm size, and family farm labor input. Additionally, the two-variable mediation path is through farm size and capital services input, farm size, and family farm labor input.
•Wheat is an important crop in Ethiopia and several new varieties have been released.•Endogenous switching regression treatment effects used with PSM and GPS to measure impacts.•Consistent results ...across models indicate that adoption increases food security.•Adopting households have higher levels of consumption and less vulnerable to shocks.•Policies for replacing outdated varieties and increasing access will enhance food security.
This article evaluates the impact of the adoption of improved wheat varieties on food security using a recent nationally-representative dataset of over 2000 farm households in Ethiopia. We adopted endogenous switching regression treatment effects complemented with a binary propensity score matching methodology to test robustness and reduced selection bias stemming from both observed and unobserved characteristics. We expand this further with the generalized propensity score (GPS) approach to evaluate the effects of continuous treatment on the response of the outcome variables. We find a consistent result across models indicating that adoption increases food security and farm households that did adopt would also have benefited significantly had they adopted new varieties. This study supports the need for vital investments in agricultural research for major food staples widely consumed by the poor, and efforts to improve access to modern varieties and services. Policies that enhance diffusion and adoption of modern wheat varieties should be central to food security strategies in Ethiopia.
Despite small landholdings, a high degree of land fragmentation, and rising labor costs, agricultural production in China has steadily increased. If one treats the farm household as the unit of ...analysis, it would be difficult to explain the conundrum. When seeing agricultural production from the lens of the division of labor, the puzzle can be easily solved. In response to rising labor costs, farmers outsource some power-intensive stages of production, such as harvesting, to specialized mechanization service providers, which are often clustered in a few counties and travel throughout the country to provide harvesting services at competitive prices. Through such an arrangement, smallholder farmers can stay viable in agricultural production.
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