Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...

households. The only clear patterns are found in sorghum/millet and yams, which are grown by a
larger percentage of poor farms than richer farms (see Table 4.1.105).
The percentage allocation of land is also fairly similar across expenditure categories. Once again,
the only crops showing a consistent pattern are sorghum/millet and yams, which account for a
larger portion of the cultivated area of poor households. The share of land planted to these two
crops falls from 15 percent in the poorest expenditure category to just 5 percent in the richest. One
implication of this result is that agricultural research to improve yields and disease resistance in
these two crops would have a greater impact on the poorest rural households than on relatively
better-off ones. The percentage of land allocated to cotton is roughly constant across categories.
This implies that the benefits of the cotton boom have been relatively well-distributed among
income groups (see Table 4.1.106).
Differences in production across farm size groups
Although cropping patterns are similar across expenditure categories, they vary
substantially across farm-size categories. The percentage of farms growing each crop rises with
farm size. For example, only 7 percent of the smallest farms grow cotton compared to 70 percent
of the largest. Similar trends are found for most of the major crops, the main exception being
manioc. The average number of crops grown on a farm rises from less than 3 on the smallest farms
to 6.5 on the largest (see Table 4.1.107).
The allocation of farm land among crops also changes as farm size increases. Three patterns can be
identified.
First, the proportion of land allocated to staple food crops such as maize, manioc, and yams
declines. These three crops account for 59 percent of the area planted on the smallest 20
percent of farms, but this proportion falls to 41 percent on the largest 20 percent of farms.
This is due to the fact that the consumption needs of the family are met on a smaller
proportion of the total area of large farms.
Second, although the trend is somewhat erratic, it appears that the share of land allocated to
vegetables also declines with farm size. This is explained by the fact that vegetables are
costly and labor-intensive to grow. On a large farm, these costs make it difficult to allocate
more than a small portion of the total area to vegetables. In contrast, the high economic
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