Development Dialogues: What is the role of small farms in the future of agriculture?

Voices in Development: A Podcast from Yale's Economic Growth Center

In this episode of Development Dialogues, a panel of experts dissect one of Africa’s most persistent development challenges: the low productivity of smallholder farmers. Despite decades of investment, innovation, and policy reform, yields on African small farms remain significantly below those in high-income countries—even when similar technologies are used.

The discussion explores the nuanced landscape of African agriculture with panelists Gérardine Mukeshimana, Christopher Udry and Mark Rosenzweig. Together, they examine the limitations of smallholder models, opportunities for structural transformation, and the imperative of inclusive rural development.

• Gérardine Mukeshimana is Vice-President of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). She has extensive knowledge of and networks in agricultural and rural development, including with other multilateral development banks and climate funds.
• Christopher Udry is the Robert E. and Emily King Professor of Economics at Northwestern University and former director of the Yale Economic Growth Center. He is a development economist whose research focuses on rural economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa. His current research examines technological change, risk and financial markets, gender and households, property rights, psychological well-being and economic decision-making and a variety of other aspects of rural economic organization.
• Mark Rosenzweig is is the Frank Altschul Professor of International Economics at Yale University and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is an elected fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society of Labor Economics, and the Bureau of for Research and Analysis of Development (BREAD).

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