Farm size

• Farms are small (1990 50% of farms were less than .5 ha), small size makes it difficult for farmers to survive, rely on subsistence farming (producing for own consumption), often leads to over cropping and a reduction in soil fertility.
• small farms also lead to monoculture (the production of one crop year after year e.g. rice) this drains the soil of nutrients and leads to lower crop yields.
• Farms are also fragmented (broken up into tiny and scattered plots of land) this makes productive farming difficult, time wasted moving from one area to another, difficult to try new methods.
• Small farm size leads to double cropping, rice grown in wet season, millet or wheat in dry season to maximise output from small farms. Every available scrap of land is used.