scholarly journals Impact of Land Rental Market Participation on Smallholder Farmers’ Commercialization: Panel Data Evidence from Northern Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 580-595
Author(s):  
Menasbo Gebru Tesfay

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to assess the impact of participation in the land rental market on smallholder farmers’ commercialization using farm household panel data in Tigrai, Ethiopia. Regression results reveal that 1 hectare increase in area rented in by tenant households leads to a 60% increase in the likelihood of participation in the output market as a crop seller and increases the marketed output sold by tenant households by US$ 200/year. The results appear to indicate that land rental market in the land scarcity economy to some extent contributes positively in the facilitation of transformation toward smallholders’ commercialization.

Author(s):  
Pamela Madududu ◽  
Willy-Marcel Ndayitwayeko ◽  
Emmanuel Mwakiwa ◽  
Jacqueline Mutambara

Agricultural commercialization is one of the proposed strategies to alleviate the problem of food insecurity in Africa. This paper contributes to the debate on the impact of agricultural commercialization on household food security by assessing the impact of agricultural commercialization on household food security. Cross-sectional data for the 2017/18 farming season was collected from 165 smallholder farmer households in Zhombe North Rural District in Zimbabwe. A propensity score matching model was used for data analysis. Crop output market participation share (COMPS) and crop input market participation share (CIMPS) were jointly used as a proxy of agricultural commercialization of a household. Findings indicated that agricultural commercialization had a positive significant average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) of 5.25 modified food consumption scores on households’ food security. The paper recommends the promotion of agricultural commercialization as a strategy to improve household food security.


Author(s):  
Yahui Wang ◽  
Qingyuan Yang ◽  
Liangjie Xin ◽  
Jingyu Zhang

The lack or instability of the pension system for the elderly in rural China has become a paramount obstacle for sustainable land transfer, namely land use right transfer among farmers, in the context of aging. The New Rural Pension System (NRPS), a pilot project that provided basic security for the elderly, was implemented in 10% of counties in 2009 and rapidly promoted nationwide in China. This study evaluates the impact of NRPS on farmland transfer by developing econometric models by employing the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2015. The participation rate in NRPS increased from 25.87% in 2011 to 80.85% in 2015, and the participation rate in farmland transfer rose from 11.56% to 24.04%. Everything else being held equal, the probability of farmers who transferred out their land increased by approximately 13% and the land area has been transferred increased by 11.2% due to participation in NRPS, indicating that the NRPS improved the operation efficiency of land rental market. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis showed that the probability and area mentioned above had a significant upward trend with the increase of the time and insured amount of participation in NRPS, which reduced dependence on farmland for the elderly and promoted the sustainability of land transfer. The government should further encourage farmers to increase the coverage and insured amount of pension system in the context of aging. Meanwhile, a platform to promote land transfer should be established to provide information about land supply and demand and reduce the transaction cost of land rental market.


Author(s):  
Sikhulumile Sinyolo ◽  
Maxwell Mudhara ◽  
Edilegnaw Wale

Background: Social grants have become an increasingly popular means of improving the welfare of poor households in South Africa and beyond. While the goals of these transfers are to alleviate current poverty as well as to improve human capital capacity, they also have unintended effects, positive or negative, on beneficiary households. A question that has not been adequately addressed in the literature is the role that social grants play in the efforts to commercialise smallholder farming.Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of social grant dependency on the incentives of smallholder maize producers to participate in the market.Setting: The study was done in the rural areas of four districts (Harry Gwala, Umzinyathi, Umkhanyakude and Uthukela) in the KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa.Methods: The study adopted a quantitative research design. A total of 984 households were randomly selected from the four districts, of which 774 had planted maize in the previous season. The analysis was done on the 774 farmers who had planted maize. The double-hurdle model was used for statistical analysis.Results: The results show a negative association between social grant dependency and market participation, suggesting that social grant-dependent households are more subsistent, producing less marketable surplus. Moreover, households with access to social grants sold less quantities of maize in the market, indicating reduced selling incentives.Conclusion: The study indicates that social grants reduce the incentives of smallholder farmers to commercialise their production activities. The results suggest that, while policies aimed at reducing transaction costs would increase smallholder market participation, attention should be paid on how to reduce social grants’ dis-incentive effects. To reduce spill over effects to unintended household members, the study recommends offering part of the grant as ‘in-kind support’, which is specific to the intended individual beneficiary.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 579-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon Asfaw ◽  
Leslie Lipper ◽  
Timothy J. Dalton ◽  
Patrick Audi

AbstractThis paper examines determinants of output and input market participation. It employs propensity score matching techniques to evaluate the impact of market participation on pigeonpea diversity and household welfare, using cross-sectional data of 333 households from Kenya. Results show that input and output market participation decisions are quite distinct. Output market participation is influenced by household demographics, farm size and radio ownership, while input market participation is determined by farm size, bicycle ownership and access to a salaried income. The findings reveal a positive and significant impact of output market participation on pigeonpea diversity, while input market participation had a negative and significant impact on diversity. The results indicate that output market participants have significantly higher food security status than non-participants, in line with the general findings of the literature. However, no significant impact is found between indicators of household welfare and input market participation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 212-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stein T. Holden ◽  
Hosaena Ghebru

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