Keijiro Otsuka

Abstract Given the stagnant agricultural productivity and persistent food insecurity in low‐income countries—notably in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA)—there has been continued interest in the adoption of new technology and its impact on productivity in these regions. To increase crop yields and sustain yield gains, recent case studies of technology adoption unanimously recommend the adoption of integrated farm management systems, particularly in SSA. On the other hand, there have been increasing numbers of studies on social network or farmer‐to‐farmer technology extension. These studies explore more efficient extension systems than traditional public‐sector extension approaches. This article reviews both recent case studies of technology adoption and its productivity impacts as well as studies on agricultural extension to identify common findings, shortcomings, and major remaining issues.

This article reviews the past and potential future roles of land tenure reforms and land markets in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as responses to population growth in the process of land use intensification and livelihood transformation. The farm size distribution and the existence of an inverse relationship (IR) between farm size and land productivity in SSA and the implications of this relationship for efficiency and equity are investigated. More secure property rights and removal of restrictions on land markets have the potential to create both efficiency and equity benefits, but there are high risks of elite capture of large land areas with inefficient and inequitable outcomes. This situation is the case not only in land-abundant areas but also in urban and peri-urban areas where increasingly larger proportions of people will make their living. Increasing population pressure in densely populated rural areas contributes to more rapid rural–urban migration, and creating alternative livelihood opportunities for the migrating youth population is essential to achieving economic development with social stability.

Contract farming (CF) has long been practiced but is becoming increasingly common in both developed and developing countries with the heightened interest of consumers in food safety and quality. Under CF, farmers and buyers make advance agreements on volume, quality, time of delivery, use of inputs, and price or pricing formula. This article critically reviews the literature on CF to assess how it contributes to improving production efficiency and income of farmers in general and of small-scale farmers in particular. Although our review focuses on literature in developing countries because of its predominance, we refer to literature in developed countries (primarily the United States) to gain a deeper understanding of the impacts of CF. We find that although CF contributes to the improvement of farmers' income by introducing new crops and production methods, there is room for strengthening its effects on poverty reduction through policy.