ABSTRACT
The balance of evidence (section (b)) is that – while in developed countries there is a direct relationship (DR) between farm size and land productivity – there is an inverse relationship (IR) in labour-abundant developing countries: small farms produce more, per hectare per year, than large farms. The contrast arises mainly for the following reason (section (c)). Smaller farms have advantages in managing labour, but larger farms in managing capital. Capital, and large-farm advantage, loom larger as a source of higher land productivity in developed, labour-scarce rural areas; labour, and small-farm advantage, count for more in developing, capital-scarce places. The IR suggests that, in developing countries, land redistribution into smaller, more equal farms may raise farm output.1
