Land Fragmentation and Technical Efficiency of Farms in Rwanda : A stochastic frontier approach to measure the effect of land fragmentation on technical efficiency

Productivity & efficiency determination in Rwanda; before land consolidation, farms in Rwanda were as small as less than a hectare and this kind of fragmentation was mainly due to population pressure on land that made land fragmentation to continue un-abated. In addition some farmers owned many & often scattered land holdings. Given this fact, agricultural production was constrained given the negative effects that fragmentation has on both productivity and efficiency of farmers. The design of policy to reverse this phenomenon was completed in Rwanda and policy implementation is underway. While the government recognizes the need to consolidate land, there are other critical issues that need to be addressed especially those factors other than land fragmentation (measured by indicators such as size and number of plots) that affect the efficiency of farmers. If these factors are addressed in tandem with adoption of land consolidation, results may be good and the much needed agricultural intensification may be achieved. Given this backdrop, this study investigates the determinants of technical efficiency and productivity of small holder maize farms in Rwanda.