@article{Mathias:243457,
      recid = {243457},
      author = {Mathias, Karangwa},
      title = {The Effect of Land Fragmentation on the Productivity and  Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Maize Farms in Southern  Rwanda},
      address = {2010-09},
      number = {634-2016-41452},
      pages = {74},
      year = {2010},
      note = {A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL FOR THE AWARD OF  A DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURAL AND APPLIED  ECONOMICS OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY. Advisors: Dr. Fredrick  Bagamba PhD and Dr. Bernard Bashaasha PhD},
      abstract = {The government of Rwanda believes that land fragmentation  is a major threat to efficient crop production in the  country due to the fact that continuous subdivision of  farms has led to small sized land holdings that may be hard  to economically operate. This study analyzed the  determinants of the productivity and technical efficiency  of smallholder maize farms in Gisagara district with a  particular focus on land fragmentation using plot size,  number of plots per household and distance from the  households’ residences to plots as measures of land  fragmentation. Gisagara district was chosen because  previous empirical studies showed high land fragmentation  there. The main objective of this study was to determine  the effect of the various dimensions of land fragmentation  on the productivity and efficiency of smallholder farms in  Rwanda. To attain this objective, hypotheses testing  whether the various dimensions of land fragmentation had  positive/negative effect on productivity and efficiency of  farms were stated and tested. This study adopted the  stochastic frontier approach adopted because being a  parametric approach, it deals with stochastic noise, and  allows hypothesis testing on the production structure and  efficiency. Though smallholder maize farms were found to be  technically efficient, their efficiency levels would be  improved if land fragmentation effects were mitigated. The  main conclusion is that land fragmentation affects the  technical efficiency of farms but the various dimensions of  land fragmentation affect efficiency differently. The  number of plots negatively affected technical efficiency of  farms; Distance to plots and size of the plot had no  significant effect on technical efficiency of farms. In  terms of productivity, this study found out that farm size  positively affected the productivity of farms, having many  plots reduced productivity and distance to plots did not  have a significant effect on productivity and the  interaction term ( avplotdist *noplots ) also had no  significant effect suggesting that land fragmentation is  probably not a big problem as long as plots are close to  homes. Land consolidation is recommended and should be  implemented. Education be availed to rural farmers and land  titling be done},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/243457},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.243457},
}