Despite decades of investment, innovation, and policy reform, yields on African small farms remain significantly below those in high-income countries—even when similar technologies are used. Which policies are most effective in boosting productivity in smallholder farms?
Yale’s Economic Growth Center and VoxDev are collaborating on Development Dialogues, a podcast series that will facilitate direct and honest conversations between policy actors and researchers. This collaboration builds on Voices in Development, a podcast from Yale’s Economic Growth Center exploring issues related to sustainable development and economic justice in low- and middle-income countries, and the VoxDevTalks podcast.
In this episode of Development Dialogues, a panel of experts dissect one of Africa’s most persistent development challenges: the low productivity of smallholder farmers. Despite decades of investment, innovation, and policy reform, yields on African small farms remain significantly below those in high-income countries—even when similar technologies are used.
The discussion explores the nuanced landscape of African agriculture with panellists Gérardine Mukeshimana, Christopher Udry and Mark Rosenzweig. Together, they examine the limitations of smallholder models, opportunities for structural transformation, and the imperative of inclusive rural development.
The limits and legacy of smallholder farms
Mukeshimana reflects on her tenure as Rwanda’s Agriculture Minister, where even farms as small as 0.4 hectares made up 90% of national food production and 30% of exports. She notes the critical importance of a systems-wide approach.
“There is no single magic bullet in this landscape of smallholder agriculture.” Mukeshimana
Rwanda’s success hinged on end-to-end reforms—from research and digital tools to market integration and risk mitigation. However, she acknowledges the challenges.
“One of the challenges… is the size of the plot. That’s really small. The second is the access to finance.” Mukeshimana
While small farms are viable, they must be better supported through investment, policy, and infrastructure.
Are there too many small farms?
Rosenzweig presents a bold thesis: farm size itself may be the fundamental bottleneck.
“The economies of scale from mechanisation are enormous, so they're unexploited, so we have slack resources and unexploited scale economies from small farms.” Rosenzweig
In simulations conducted in India, increasing average farm size from two to 25 acres led to a 42% rise in output and 68% increase in income per worker.
He outlines three reasons why small scale impedes productivity:
- Labour underutilisation and misallocation due to high transaction costs.
- A lack of mechanisation, which is infeasible on tiny plots.
- Absence of functioning land and labour markets.
“In the history of the world, as far as I know, there has never been an aggrandisement from very small farms to large farms without external intervention on the part of government.” Rosenzweig
Can smallholders scale without land reform?
Udry offers a more cautious view, highlighting cultural and institutional barriers to land consolidation. In West Africa, for instance, individuals trying to accumulate land are unable to do so due to communal land tenure systems. He warns that reforming these systems risks undermining crucial social protection mechanisms. He also questions whether improved land rights alone will trigger consolidation.
“There’s a hold-up problem,” he explains, as fragmented ownership structures require impractical coordination. Instead, Udry proposes a focus on enabling gradual transformation through improved infrastructure and technology.
“In the short run, I think that there [are] many inefficiencies in agriculture in Africa that can be alleviated short of this agglomeration.” Udry
Tackling barriers beyond land size
While farm size dominates the debate, the panellists agree it’s far from the only issue. Udry outlines a suite of constraints: poor roads, limited access to credit and insurance, weak market links, and inadequate labour markets. He underscores the diversity of African agriculture.
“There is strong evidence of an enormous amount of heterogeneity in the physical and economic environment that farmers are operating in.” Udry
For example, variation in maize yields across Ugandan farms can reach up to 10,000%, compared to just 200% in the US Midwest.
“This variation across farms in Africa means that different farmers need different types of inputs and they need to use them in different ways, which makes it more difficult to develop new technologies and to develop policies that increase productivity just because of the diversity of circumstances that farmers have.” Udry
Mukeshimana echoes this sentiment, arguing that success lies in bundling support.
The case for inclusive rural transformation
As the discussion turns toward the future, the panellists consider what rural development should look like. Mukeshimana sees a clear role for smallholders in the near term, pointing out that they already provide almost 35% of the food that is consumed globally. For her, the focus must be on enabling current farmers to earn better livelihoods and reinvest in education and opportunity for the next generation.
Rosenzweig offers a vision of long-term transformation.
“What's very important for the productivity of agriculture, the production of food in the world is that there be industrialisation in these countries.” Rosenzweig
He sees future farming dominated by fewer, more mechanised farms, with the majority of the population employed in non-agricultural sectors. However, he acknowledges this will require new pathways, such as collective farming models seen in China.
“There is an intermediate [solution]… collective farming… [where] firms come in and contract with a whole set of farmers owning adjacent land… which enormously increases output and incomes… without changing property rights.” Rosenzweig
What policy shift is most urgent?
In closing, each guest shares one change that could catalyse progress. Rosenzweig calls for shifting focus from short-term aid to long-term transformation.
“Focusing our attention to the bigger picture of how we're going to move people out of agriculture, instead of just fixing the idea that small farmers need help.” Rosenzweig
Udry calls for more research into context-specific technologies and locally feasible land aggregation strategies.
Mukeshimana insists that both investment and policy are crucial. She calls for a renewed emphasis on “inclusive rural development,” noting that the rural poor—especially smallholder farmers—risk being left behind without systemic change.
Final thoughts on boosting productivity in smallholder farming
This episode of Development Dialogues surfaces a powerful tension in agricultural policy: the immediate needs of millions of small farmers versus the structural reforms required for long-term transformation. While experts disagree on the speed and mechanisms of change, they align on one point: inclusive, evidence-based policymaking is critical.
“There is no single country that implements only one policy… We need the right policies and strategies that are pro-people and that are looking at pulling people out of poverty.” Mukeshimana