Can Agricultural Households Farm Their Way Out of Poverty?

Oseni, Gbemisola ; McGee, Kevin ; Dabalen, Andrew

World Bank Group, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO CREDIT;    AGRICULTURAL ADVICE;    AGRICULTURAL CAPITAL;    AGRICULTURAL CREDIT;    AGRICULTURAL CROP;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7093
RP-ID  :  WPS7093

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper examines the determinants ofagricultural productivity and its link to poverty usingnationally representative data from the Nigeria GeneralHousehold Survey Panel, 2010/11. The findings indicate anelasticity of poverty reduction with respect to agriculturalproductivity of between 0.25 to 0.3 percent, implying that a10 percent increase in agricultural productivity willdecrease the likelihood of being poor by between 2.5 and 3percent. To increase agricultural productivity, land, labor,fertilizer, agricultural advice, and diversification withinagriculture are the most important factors. As commonlyfound in the literature, the results indicate theinverse-land size productivity relationship. Morespecifically, a 10 percent increase in harvested land sizewill decrease productivity by 6.6 percent, all else beingequal. In a simulation exercise where land quality isassumed to be constant across small and large holdings, theresults show that if farms in the top land quintile had halfthe median yield per hectare of farms in the lowestquintile, production of the top quintile would be 10 timeshigher. The higher overall values of harvests from largerland sizes are more likely because of cultivation of largerexpanses of land, rather than from efficient production. Itshould be noted that having larger land sizes in itself isnot positively correlated with a lower likelihood of beingpoor. This is not to say that having larger land sizes isnot important for farming, but rather it indicates thatincreasing efficiency is the more important need that couldlead to poverty reduction for agricultural households.