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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Smallholder Agriculture, Wage Labour, and Rural Poverty Alleviation in Land-Abundant Areas of Africa: Evidence from Mozambique
Authors:Tschirley, David L.ISNI
Benfica, RuiISNI
Year:2001
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:39
Issue:2
Period:June
Pages:333-358
Language:English
Geographic term:Mozambique
Subjects:labour relations
poverty
small farms
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
Economics and Trade
Labor and Employment
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557267
Abstract:This paper challenges the conclusions of earlier writers regarding the roles of smallholder agriculture, commercial agriculture and wage labour in rural poverty alleviation in Mozambique. It is based on a review of empirical literature from across sub-Saharan Africa and a survey carried out among 960 rural households in Nampula, Zambezia, Sofala and Manica Provinces in 1998. Results show that wage labour earnings are concentrated among the best-off rural smallholders; these earnings increase income inequality rather than reducing it. Results further suggest that the same set of households, which are substantially better off than others, has tended to gain and maintain access to the 'high wage' end of the labour market over time. Income from wage labour plays a key role in lifting out of relative poverty those 'female-headed' households that can obtain it, yet only about one in five such households earns wage income. Finally, the paper shows that well over 90 percent of rural residents control less than 10 hectare of land, and it argues, therefore, that any agricultural development strategy which ignores these smallholder households will condemn rural Mozambique to a stagnant agriculture, a moribund non-farm economy, and continuing high rates of extreme poverty. App., bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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