Medium scale farms for agricultural transformation and poverty reduction: Evidence from Burkina Faso

Tankari, Mahamadou Roufahi; Glatzel, Katrin; and Demmler, Kathrin M. 2019. Medium scale farms for agricultural transformation and poverty reduction: Evidence from Burkina Faso. Presented at the 6th African Conference of Agricultural Economists, in Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria, September 23-26, 2019. https://purl.umn.edu/295770

This study explores how the change in land distribution influences agricultural transformation and poverty reduction in Burkina Faso. For this purpose, it highlights the impact of the concentration of medium scale farms on cash crops production including groundnuts, cotton and sesame productions and how this cash cropping affects farm households’ poverty. The empirical evidence was provided using the survey data of the Enquete Multisectorielle Continue du Burkina Faso (EMC-BF) 2014. A probit fractional response model was estimated to analyze the association between the concentration of medium scale farms and cash cropping while the instrumental variables technique was used to assess the effect of cash cropping on poverty. The study revealed that the concentration of medium scale farms in a province of Burkina Faso shifts farm household system of production from food crops to cash cropping indicating that the medium scale farms may drive agricultural transformation in Burkina Faso. Furthermore, the study showed that cash cropping reduces farm households’ poverty by improving their welfare. Therefore, land sector reform aiming to change the land distribution for the medium scale farms rise is important for agricultural transformation and accelerating poverty reduction in Burkina Faso.