Agricultural commercialization, land expansion, and homegrown land-scale farmers: Insights from Ghana

The past decade has seen several African countries increasing their agricultural growth, a trend largely underpinned by increases in land area cultivated instead of productivity increases. Meanwhile, scholars debate whether Africa should pursue a strategy of large-scale or smallholder farms, paying...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chapoto, Antony, Mabiso, Athur, Bonsu, Adwinmea
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153572
Description
Summary:The past decade has seen several African countries increasing their agricultural growth, a trend largely underpinned by increases in land area cultivated instead of productivity increases. Meanwhile, scholars debate whether Africa should pursue a strategy of large-scale or smallholder farms, paying little attention to a special group of smallholder farmers who have transitioned to become medium- and large-scale farmers. This study, therefore, begins to analyze this group of farmers, using qualitative data from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in Ghana. We analyze their characteristics, ingredients of farm-size expansion, and commercialization.