Commercialization of Smallholder Farming

Transforming the subsistence-oriented production system of smallholder farms into a market-oriented production system as a way to increase the smallholder farmer s income and its welfare outcomes, and reducing rural poverty, has been in the policy spotlight of many developing countries for some time now.However, there are only very limited studies, and hence literature, dealing with the degree of market participation of smallholder farmers in developing countries and whether the market participants are better-off in terms of welfare outcomes. Therefore, this book provides a deep perspective on the nature of smallholder farms and the welfare outcomes of going commercial by identifying the micro-level factors determining market participation, the level of commercialization as well as evaluating the welfare outcomes of participant smallholders.Descriptive, statistical and econometric methods were employed to analyze the data collected from a sample of 125 households using structured household questionnaires. Hence, this book would be very useful to practitioners, researchers as well as academicians who may be interested in rural development and poverty reduction.