Investigating institutional constraints to smallholder development: the issues and antecedents - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 7

Smallholder farming systems

Social factors

Technical factors Institutional Human

Physical Biological Marketing system Age structure

Climate Pests and diseases Norms and beliefs Gender ratio

Land Crop species Regulations Family labour

Water Livestock species Politics Dependency ratio

Capital Government policies Education

Infrastructure Land tenure Management

Market O � -farm productive activities Goals

Communications Needs & aspirations

Figure 1.1. Relationships between smallholder farming systems and institutions. Adapted from Norton
et al. (2006).

these thoughts into a framework that recognizes the ubiquity of institutions and how the
diverse elements can be applied for enhanced performance.

Many countries in Africa have since the 1990s been dismantling government controls
and converting to market-based food systems, believing that market reforms would
enhance farm profitability through their positive effects on prices, investment levels,
and commercialization ( Jayne et al. , 1997). In fact, the need for such agrarian reforms,
including commercialization of the smallholder production systems, has received
considerable attention from governments and development organizations, including the
SADC (FANRPAN, 2003; Anonymous, 2003). But the results of the reform programmes
have been mixed and frequently inconsistent with the expected increases in productivity.
It is now being realized that the sectoral reform prescriptions have, in many cases, been
based upon only superficial knowledge of the prevailing economic institutions and how