Abstract
The economic farm-size–efficiency relationship for maize remains unclear. A question that has yet to be answered conclusively is whether farm size affects productivity. The debate on land-appropriation-without-compensation ultimately revolves around the optimal land size and conditions under which farmers can benefit from a more rational utilization of available land. As important as the farm-size–efficiency debate is, it has not received much attention since the launch of the land reform programme. Again, the farm sizes examined in the previous studies reflected large-scale commercial agriculture and were mainly in relation to wheat production rather than the dietary staple of maize. This paper applied parametric efficiency measures under alternative distributional assumptions to data generated from 267 maize-farming households, to understand the economic farm-size–efficiency relationships and their determinants. It emerged that, while farm size is a key determinant of economic efficiency in maize production, its effect on technical efficiency is still contested. Findings suggest that farmer support should be prioritized, and the government’s efforts to make farmers more productive should emphasize gender equity and optimal use of land.
Highlights
Maize dominates the South African food system, being both a dietary staple [1] and crucial commodity in food security and reduction of malnutrition [2]
Despite the actions taken by the government to redress the legacy of apartheid, evidence [6,7,13,14] shows that the land transfer process under the land reform programme has been far from efficient, with the slow pace resulting in that deadline being missed
This study employed the two-step estimation approach as default in which the effect of farm size on the technical efficiency level of the farmers was assessed by means of the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression technique
Summary
Maize dominates the South African food system, being both a dietary staple [1] and crucial commodity in food security and reduction of malnutrition [2]. At the very highest levels, the government’s commitment to creating jobs and reducing inequality and poverty in the nation has been regularly stressed [15] To achieve these goals, it is often stated that the government is committed to revitalizing the irrigation schemes in the poor areas of the country. Despite the actions taken by the government to redress the legacy of apartheid, evidence [6,7,13,14] shows that the land transfer process under the land reform programme has been far from efficient, with the slow pace resulting in that deadline being missed. Practices remain traditional and basic, inevitably resulting in the persistent low productivity of smallholder agriculture [17]
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