ABSTRACTAGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF FARM STRUCTURE CHANGE IN ZAMBIAThe rise of domestic medium-scale investor farms (holdings between 5 and 100 hectares) is ushering in a change in farm structure that perhaps signals an alternative pathway to agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This dissertation examines this change and what it implies for agricultural development in the region through three standalone but closely linked essays using the case of Zambia.The first essay examines the causes and consequences of the rise of domestic medium-scale investor farms in Zambia using a mixed-methods approach. By locating the study within the broader political economy and new institutional economics literature, the study gleans some important findings. Results show that a positive change in society's perception of farming, a change in enforcement of informal rules of land governance, and unintended consequences of public spending agricultural support programs have played a pivotal role in farm structure change. In addition, farm structure change has been associated with agricultural land concentration, a growing informal land rental and sales market and a skewed level of agricultural commercialization. The second essay re-examines the farm size – productivity relationship hypothesis in the context of farm structure change using a comprehensive set of productivity indicators and a wide range of farm sizes. Results show that the IR hypothesis is not consistently upheld across alternative indicators of productivity. While the study finds that small-scale farms are more productive when the outcome variable is either land productivity or cost of staple food production per metric ton produced, relatively larger farms have higher labor productivity. Relaxing the constant returns to scale assumption helps to isolate sources of productivity differences between less than five-hectare farms and those above five hectares. The third essay investigates recent trends in agricultural mechanization use, its effects on agricultural household production and the factors contributing to the rise of mechanization initiatives in Zambia. Results show that mechanization use for land preparation has remained low and stagnant. For users, its effects on cropland expansion have been positive but this has not translated into net gains in crop productivity. The study shows that actors on the supply side have become active in promoting agricultural mechanization. On the demand side, however, the level of mechanization use has remained low in part because the changes in the rental rates for mechanization relative to agricultural labor costs have probably not changed to a level that induces an unequivocal shift to labor saving technologies such as mechanization. Three main conclusions are drawn from this dissertation research. First, in order to achieve agricultural development that is broad-based and inclusive, policy strategies should address inequalities in land access, enhance a more inclusive formalization of land ownership and continue to support small-scale agriculture production. Second, findings on the relationship between productivity and operated farm size, while important, should not be the decisive factor in guiding agricultural development and land policies in SSA because there are many other important considerations. Third, this research demonstrates that if identified pitfalls of mechanization initiatives are not quickly addressed, sustainability of these initiatives may be compromised.
Read
