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It's a small world after all: Defining smallholder agriculture in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Chamberlin, Jordan
Abstract
"Strategies for boosting the agricultural economies of developing countries usually focus on small farms, attempting, for example, to link smallholders with markets through production chain development. However, such strategies often fail to differentiate between different types of small farmers or to investigate the distribution of assets within the group—efforts that are important because unequal distributions of assets can restrict pro-poor growth. Further, strategies to develop production chains favor some small farmers over others (i.e., those already participating in targeted chains and those with relatively more productive assets). Using landholding size as an organizational filter, we performed a basic descriptive analysis of smallholder traits in Ghana, using data from the 2005–2006 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS5). We found strong inequalities in landholding distributions within Ghana's small-farm sector in all regions of the country. Using a classification of smallholders we derived based on landholding size, we examined a variety of small-farm traits and found that many of the broadly perceived defining characteristics of smallholder agriculture—such as low input use and low market engagement—are negatively correlated with landholding size. The crowding of farms at the smaller end of the small-farm spectrum in Ghana suggests that rural development strategies based on expanding existing market chains will face challenges in connecting with the bulk of small producers, who are less well endowed than average statistics indicate." from authors' abstract

Suggested Citation

  • Chamberlin, Jordan, 2008. "It's a small world after all: Defining smallholder agriculture in Ghana," IFPRI discussion papers 823, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:823
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Twerefou, Daniel Kwabena, 2013. "Aid and Environment in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series 123, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. de Vos, Rosanne E. & Suwarno, Aritta & Slingerland, Maja & van der Meer, Peter J. & Lucey, Jennifer M., 2023. "Pre-certification conditions of independent oil palm smallholders in Indonesia. Assessing prospects for RSPO certification," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    3. Pienaar, Louw & Traub, Lulama, 2015. "Understanding the smallholder farmer in South Africa: Towards a sustainable livelihoods classification," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212633, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Abatania, Luke N. & Hailu, Atakelty & Mugera, Amin W., 2012. "Analysis of farm household technical efficiency in Northern Ghana using bootstrap DEA," 2012 Conference (56th), February 7-10, 2012, Fremantle, Australia 124211, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    5. Ebelechukwu Maduekwe & Gertrud Buchenrieder, 2023. "The effect of negative human recognition on farmland access and well‐being: Evidence from women farmers in Malawi," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 112-133, February.
    6. Kolavalli, Shashidhara & Flaherty, Kathleen & Al-Hassan, Ramatu & Baah, Kwaku Owusu, 2010. "Do Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) Processes Make a Difference to Country Commitments to Develop Agriculture?," IFPRI discussion papers 1006, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Ernest Acheampong & Nicholas Ozor & Eric Owusu, 2014. "Vulnerability assessment of Northern Ghana to climate variability," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 31-44, September.
    8. Kansanga, Moses Mosonsieyiri & Luginaah, Isaac, 2019. "Agrarian livelihoods under siege: Carbon forestry, tenure constraints and the rise of capitalist forest enclosures in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 131-142.
    9. Aisha Dasgupta & Angela Baschieri, 2010. "Vulnerability to climate change in rural Ghana: Mainstreaming climate change in poverty-reduction strategies," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(6), pages 803-820.
    10. Väth, Susanne Johanna & Kirk, Michael, 2013. "Do land ownership and contract farming matter? Evidence from a large-scale investment in Ghana," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161460, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    11. George Christoffel Schoneveld & Laura German, 2014. "Translating Legal Rights into Tenure Security: Lessons from the New Commercial Pressures on Land in Ghana," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 187-203, February.
    12. Kemeze, Francis H., 2020. "Demand for Supplemental Irrigation via Small-Scale Water Harvesting," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304569, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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    Keywords

    small farms; Smallholder production; Agricultural development;
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