Effects of Agricultural Land Dispersion and Fragmentation on the Cost of Agricultural Products (Case Study: Rainfed Wheat in Province of Guilan)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of agricultural economics, Faculty of Economics and Agricultural Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

2 Ph.D Student, Department of agricultural economics, Faculty of Economics and Agricultural Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

3 Professor, Department of agricultural economics, Faculty of Economics and Agricultural Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

Abstract

 It is believed that land fragmentation and small size of the farms causes low productivity and, high cost of production and results in a decrease in the farmers’ net income. Thus, it is worth to study empirically the effects of lands fragmentation on the cost of production. Guilan province is one of the areas where agricultural land Fragmentation is widely observed. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to estimate the effect of agricultural land fragmentation on the production cost of rainfed wheat in Guilan province. To this end, production and cost data of wheat and barley was collected for the crop year 2014-2015 through questionnaires from Deylaman and Malakut regions in the Guilan province. An indirect cost function approach was utilized and the best functional form was chosen using econometric criteria. Based on the estimated parameters of the chosen model, the cost elasticities of all variables including numbers of land fragments were estimated. Results indicate that, the Translog functional form is most appropriately represents production technology of wheat and barley in the study regions. Also, result confirms that fragmentation of land causes increase in the average cost of production and demand for labor input in these two crops. In addition, the estimated scale elasticities reveal an increasing returns production technology in the studied crops. Accordingly, land consolidation and augmentation policies are suggested to reduce average cost of production.

Keywords


  1. Arsalanbod, M. & Esmaeilpoor, A. (2000). Effects of dispersion and fragmentation in production units on the production costs (Case study of irrigated wheat in West Azarbaijan province), Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development, 30(8), 109-116. (In Farsi).
  2. Ansari, V. & Salami, H. (2009). The Role of Agriculture in Job Creation and Income Distribution: A path Decomposition Analysis, Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 40-2(3), 1-20. (In Farsi).
  3. Awotide, D. O. & Agbola, P. O. (2010). Relationship between land fragmentation and maize farmer’s productivity in northern Nigeria, Journal of Life & Physical Sciences, 3(2), 1-9.
  4. Baffes, J. & Vasavada, U. (1989). On the choice of functional forms in agricultural production analysis, Applied Economics, 21, 1053-1061.
  5. Bakhshoodeh, M. & Najafi, B. (1991). Study of some costs of land fragmentation in Fars province. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Science, 22(1, 2), 21-32, (In Farsi).
  6. Berndt, E. R. & Wood, D. O. (1975(. Technology, prices and derived demand for energy. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 52, 259-68.
  7. Chambers, R. G. (1988). Applied production analysis: A dual approach, Cambridge University Press, New York.
  8. Diewert, W. E. & Wales A. J. (1987). Flexible functional Form and Global Curvature Conditions, Econometrica, 55(1), 43-68.
  9. Diewert, W. E. (1971). An application of the Shepard duality theorem: A general Leontief production function, Journal of Political Economics, 79: 481-507.

10. Filippini M. (1996). Economies of scale and utilization in the Swiss electric power distribution industry, Applied Economics, 28, 543-550.

11. Garcia, R. & Randall, A. (1994). A cost function analysis to estimate effect of fertilizer policy on the supply of wheat and corn, Review of Agricultural Economies, 16, 215-230.

12. Gujarati, D.N. (1995). Basic Econometrics, 4th Edition, United State Military Academy, New York.

13. Guttormsen, A. G. (2002). Input factor substitutability in Salmon aquaculture. Marin Resource Economics, 17, 91-102.

14. Hoseinzad, J., Khatibi, A., Dashti, Gh. & Raheli, H. (2009). Effects of size and fragmentation in agricultural Lands on yield and cost of production: Case study of cotton farms in Garmsar County, Journal of Agricultural science, 19(1), 1-11. (In Farsi).

15. Jabarin, A. S. & Epplin, F. M. (1994).  Impacts of land fragmentation on the cost of producing wheat in the rain-fed region of northern Jordan, Agricultural Economics, 11, 191-196.

16. Jamshidi, A., Teimori, M., & Jamshidi, M. (2012). Analysis of factors affecting land fragmentation in Shirvan Chardavol County, and provision of appropriate reorganizing mechanisms, Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 42-2(3), 367-378. (In Farsi).

17. Jha, R., Nagarajan, H. K. & Prasanna, S. (2005). Land fragmentation and its implications for productivity: Evidence from Southern India, ASARC Working Paper, Australia South Asia Research Centre, RSPAS, Division of Economics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

18. Kawasaki, K. (2010). The costs and benefits of land fragmentation of rice farms in Japan, The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 54, 509–526.

19. Kim, H. Y. (1992). The Translog production function and variable returns to scale, Review of Economics and Statistics, 74, 546-552.

20. Kuroda, Y. (1987). The production structure and demand for labour in postwar Japanese agriculture, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 36(1), 80-100.

21. Latruffe, L. & Piet, L. (2013). Does land fragmentation affect farm performance? A case study from Brittany, France, Working Paper SMART – LERECO N°13-04 ‏.

22. Monchuk, D., Deininger, K. & Nagarajan, H. (2010). Does land fragmentation reduce efficiency: Micro evidence from India, Paper presented at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association 2010 AAEA, CAES, & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, July 25-27.

23. Roosta, K. & Teimoori, T. (2009). Prioritizing preventive factors in performing land consolidation plan in South Khorasan Province (A case study in Darmian city), Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 40-2(2), 153-145. (In Farsi).

24. Salami, H. (1996). Production structure and productivity measurement in the Iranian crop sector, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Alberta, Canada.

25. Shokati Amghani, M., Kalantari, Kh. Asadi, A. & Shabanali Fami, H. (2018). Investigating the effective factors on land dispersion and fragmentation in East Azarbayjan province, Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 49-2(3), 487-508. (In Farsi).

26. Stier, J. C. (1985). Implication of factor substitution, economies of scale and technological change in the United States pulps and paper industry, Forest Science, 31(4), 803-812.

27. Sundqvist, P. & Andersson, L. (2006). A study of the impacts of land fragmentation on agricultural productivity in Northern Vietnam. Bachelor Thesis, Department of Economics. Uppsala University. Sweden.

28. Thompson, C. D. (1988), Choice of flexible functional forms: Review and appraisal, Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, 13 (2), 169-183.

Vosughi, M. & Faraji, A. Sociological research on the factors affecting farmers' willingness to participate in agricultural land consolidation (A case study of Zarindasht Villages), Iranian Journal of Sociology, 7(2), 101-118. (In Farsi)