Land fragmentation, agricultural productivity and implications for agricultural investments in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) region, Tanzania

Abstract

There are polarized evidences of the impact of agricultural land fragmentation on land productivity. On the one hand there viewpoints which consider land fragmentation to harm agricultural productivity. On the other hand there are counter thoughts which view land fragmentation as a positive situation which allows farmers to cultivate many environmental zones, minimise production risk and optimise the schedule for cropping activities. We use the case of Ihemi cluster in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) to investigate the impact of land fragmentation on crop productivity. We furthermore discuss the nature and causes of land fragmentation in the SAGCOT region and its implication on the future structure of agricultural landholdings and welfare of smallholder farmers in the region. The results showed that the nature and level of fragmentation in the study area were the outcome of combined, rather than isolated influences of supply and demand driven factors. Overall, the results did not support the claim that fragmentation reduces land productivity. This then implies that land fragmentation should not always be considered as defective. There were evidences of increasing chunks of land owned by rich farmers and investors which increased the possibility for increased consolidation of agricultural land under large scale farming. However, the landholdings for smallholder farmers might become increasingly more fragmented as poor smallholder farmers continue selling their land holdings to rich farmers and investors. Releasing the SAGCOT region's potential for agricultural development will require that smallholder farmers are helped to secure adequate and suitable land for farming, raise agricultural productivity, diversify their sources of income, and adopt good production practices. This requires setting up a strong base of investor -farmer synergies for inclusive agricultural growth.

Land fragmentation and its determinants in Nigeria: A case study of smallholder farmers in Ikenne Agricultural Zone, Ogun State, Nigeria

“…The menace of land fragmentation increases production costs, resulting in inefficient allocation of labor and capital inputs (Deininger et al, 2014;Tan, 2005). However, regarded from an opposite point of view, land fragmentation is believed to be a positive situation which allows farmers to cultivate many environmental zones, minimize production risks and optimize the schedule for cropping activities (Kadigi et al, 2017;Kakwagh et al, 2011;McPherson, 1982;Simpson, 1987). It also encourages farmers to cultivate a variety of crops of different maturity and ripening periods in order to focus and manage their labor use on different plots at different time, thereby avoiding household labor bottlenecks (Bentley, 1990).…”

Challenges of Liberalization: Asean Economic Trade in the Case of Farmers and Regional Government in Sidoarjo (East Java, Indonesia)

“…The Sustainable Agriculture Farm (LP2B) program is aimed at maintaining food security. The regency of Sidoarjo has provided an area equivalent of 12,206 ha however the government of East Java Province wants those land to be used for the preparation causing the Sidoarjo regency research conducted in Tanzania growing many environmental activities (Reuben et al 2017) To support food security which is Statute No. 49 of 2009. of Sidoarjo, this is due to the lack the farmer.…”

Land as a common resource: fostering rural social sustainability in the face of fragmentation and rural social sustainability in Bade, Yobe State, Nigeria

“…Globally, land as a resource, is one of the signifi cant factors of production, whereas on the other hand worlds population is increasing at an alarming rate thereby impacting on the acquisition and processes of land use which subsequently results in a phenomenon called land fragmentation. Fragmentation of land is noted to be a worldwide phenomenon (Demetriou, Stillwell, See, 2012;Iheke, Amaechi, 2015;Reuben et al, 2017). Therefore, achieving countryside sustainability which encompasses the three major components known as environmental sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability requires endless eff orts to mitigate all sorts of unsustainable practices such as land fragmentation (Nigerian National Population Commission, 2010;Reuben et al, 2017;Sangeda et al, 2014).…”

“…Fragmentation of land is noted to be a worldwide phenomenon (Demetriou, Stillwell, See, 2012;Iheke, Amaechi, 2015;Reuben et al, 2017). Therefore, achieving countryside sustainability which encompasses the three major components known as environmental sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability requires endless eff orts to mitigate all sorts of unsustainable practices such as land fragmentation (Nigerian National Population Commission, 2010;Reuben et al, 2017;Sangeda et al, 2014). In a nutshell, land fragmentation leads to low productivity thereby causing poverty whereas sustainability is a continuous eff ort to meet the present-day requirement without jeopardising the future requirement need of the yet unborn generations.…”

“…It is, therefore, a substantial impediment to the mechanisation of agriculture, causing various agricultural productivity ineffi ciencies and requires a substantial cost to improve its eff ects (Alemu, Ayele, Berhanu, 2017;Balogun, Akinyemi, Adam, 2017). Reuben et al (2017) and Sikk and Maasikamäe (2015) asserted that globally, land fragmentation poses numerous detrimental eff ects on agricultural mechanisation effi ciency and productivity subsequently leading to abject poverty thereby aff ecting rural sustainability.…”