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The future of small farms in Asia
Author(s) -
Otsuka Keijiro,
Liu Yanyan,
Yamauchi Futoshi
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
development policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.671
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1467-7679
pISSN - 0950-6764
DOI - 10.1111/dpr.12159
Subject(s) - comparative advantage , disadvantage , agriculture , production (economics) , wage rate , south asia , agricultural economics , southeast asia , wage , business , economics , geography , international trade , labour economics , political science , history , ancient history , ethnology , archaeology , law , macroeconomics
Farms throughout Asia are predominantly small. By nature, small farms use labour‐intensive production methods. The question arises as to the viability of small farms in the face of the rapidly increasing wage rate in most Asian countries. There is also indication that the production efficiency of small farms has declined relative to large farms in many Asian economies, indicating the increasing disadvantage of small farms in Asia. Therefore, this study argues that unless new policy measures are taken to expand farm size, Asia as a whole is likely to lose comparative advantage in agriculture and become an importer of food grains in the future.