Abstract:
Land fragmentation is a universal trait of all agricultural systems which affects agricultural activities. The degree of fragmentation is different across regions. Hence, this study sought to ascertain the effects of land fragmentation on land productivity and labor supply in Gamo highlands by using cross-sectional data collected from 354 randomly selected respondents during 2019/2020 production seasons. In land productivity analysis, OLS estimation technique was used to examine influences exerted to land productivity by independent variables including land fragmentation parameters. The numbers of cultivated plots and average distance from home to plot are land fragmentation parameters. The result shows that both these parameters have significant positive effect on land productivity. Whereas, Instrumental Variable(IV) and Double Hurdle estimation techniques were used to investigate the effect of land fragmentation on on-farm labor supply and off-farm labor supply of household heads, respectively. The numbers of cultivated plots and average distance from home to plots have different effect in the farm labor supply. Numbers of cultivated plots has negative effect and average distance from home to plots has positive effect on farm labor supply. Only number of plots is the significant land fragmentation parameter in off farm labor supply model. Number of plots has adverse effect on off farm labor supply. Therefore, the government advised to come up with land use policy and programs that balance the positive and negative effect of land fragmentation on rural economy. These policies and programs can improve land productivity, and find ways to strengthen off-farm activities and to absorb or release more labor based on the development status of off farm activities and enhance means of generating more income so as to achieve agricultural transformation; thus, this study suggests contingent plot farming.
