Does farm size explain food consumption pattern? evidence from semi-arid regions of India

Abstract

This paper examines responsiveness of consumption of major food items to change in their prices and household per capita income across different farm size groups. The results show significant variation in the food consumption pattern and demand elasticities across farm size groups and also between farm and non-farm households'. The income and price elasticities are low for cereals, pulses, edible oils and vegetables than those of animal products and fruits. Further, we find a better response from non-farm households' to changes in their income and food prices. The results suggest that it is the income effect is more important in the case of non-farm households' and production effect in the case of farm households'. Further, among farm households' the smallholders are more vulnerable to changes in production/income and prices.

Interlinking dietary diversity, production diversity, and climate change: Non-separable farm household model approach

“…We elaborate on the background linkages of climatic factors, production activities, and consumption decisions in the conceptual framework (Figure 1), which focus the farm household as a central decisionmaking unit. We improve and formalize our original conceptual framework (Khed et al 2018) and we make some adjustments to fit the context of this study. We define three possible pathways through which farmers' decisions can be influenced; two are related to climatic factors and one is independent of climatic factors.…”

“…Smallholder farmers, for instance, are more likely to grow food crops to ensure food selfsufficiency than grow cash crops and thus have low income elasticity in staple food expenses (Fafchamps 1992). Farm size is an important determinant of the quality of farm households' livelihoods-larger the farm, better the livelihood (Khed et al 2018).…”