The Science and Economics of Family Farms

The scientific and economic rationale of small family farms has been explained in the early 20th century itself. If Alexander Chayanov unravelled the nature and rationality of Russian peasantry, later on, Georescue Roegen analysed and confirmed it. Hayami and Ellis, among others, proved its modernization potential, while Kumarappa and Scott highlighted the social and ecological value of moral economy prevalent in small holderdominated agriculture. Of late, the discourse on food sovereignty and agroecology is bringing back the focus on small holder family farms. Despite such developments, mainstream policies and academics seem to gloss over the value of small family farms. They still hover around the conventional business intention of scaling up both the size and capital intensity of agriculture. This focus is explicitly and implicitly justified from both the angles of improving food security and farm livelihoods.