Browsing by Subject "Technology adoption"

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Factors influencing the adoption of agricultural machinery by Chinese maize farmers
(2021) Quan, Xiuhao; Doluschitz, Reiner
As the major labor force has shifted from rural areas to cities, labor shortages in agricultural production have resulted. In the context of technical progress impact, and depending on farm resource endowments, farmers will choose effective labor saving technology such as machinery to substitute for the missing manual labor. The reasons behind farmers’ adoption of machinery technology are worth exploring. Therefore, this study uses 4165 Chinese maize farmers as the target group. Multivariate probit models were performed to identify the factors that affect maize farmers’ adoption of four machinery technologies as well as the interrelation between these adoption decisions. The empirical results indicate that maize sowing area, arable land area, crop diversity, family labor, subsidy, technical assistance, and economies of scale have positive effects on machinery adoption, while the number of discrete fields in the farm has a negative impact. Maize farmers in the Northeast and North have higher machinery adoption odds than other regions. The adoption of these four machinery technologies are interrelated and complementary. Finally, moderate scale production, crop diversification, subsidizing agricultural machinery and its extension education, and land consolidation, are given as recommendations for promoting the adoption of agricultural machinery by Chinese maize farmers.
Land titling policy and soil conservation in the uplands of Northern Vietnam
(2008) Dung, Pham Thi My; Saint-Macary, Camille; Keil, Alwin; Zeller, Manfred; Heidhues, Franz
In Vietnam, a quasi private property regime has been established in 1993 with the issuance of exchangeable and mortgageable long term land use right certificates. Using primary qualitative and quantitative data collected in a mountainous district of Northern Vietnam, this paper investigates the role of the land policy in the adoption of soil conservation technologies by farmers. This issue is of crucial importance in the region where population growth and growing market demands have induced farmers to intensify agricultural production. While poverty has been reduced, environmental problems such as soil erosion, landslides, and declining soil fertility have become more severe over the past years. Among the abundant literature on the impact of property rights and formal land titles in developing countries, only a few studies have focused on the adoption of soil conservation technologies: an important element in sustainable development strategies of fragile agro-ecological areas confronted with increasing population densities. Our findings suggest that soil conservation technologies are perceived as being economically unattractive; therefore, most upland farmers continue to practice the prevailing erosion-prone cultivation system. Focusing on agroforestry as one major soil conservation option, we estimate household and plot level econometric models to empirically assess the determinants of adoption. We find that the possession of a formal land title influences adoption, but that the threat of land re-allocations in villages discourages adoption by creating uncertainty and tenure insecurity. We conclude that more efforts are needed from decision-makers to promote and support the adoption of conservation practices and to clarify objectives of the land policy in order to secure land tenure and foster sustainable development in fragile areas.
The impact of agricultural innovations on poverty, vulnerability and resilience to food insecurity of smallholders in Ethiopia
(2022) Biru, Wubneshe Dessalegn; Zeller, Manfred
Ethiopia has adopted agriculture centered growth strategies over the last three decades that give more emphasis on improving agricultural production and productivity with the ultimate goal to transform the country’s economy. The strategies have mainly aimed at improving smallholder agriculture through introducing improved technologies intended to boost agricultural production and thus alleviate poverty and food insecurity. Although agriculture centered growth strategies contributed to sustained growth in the country over the last two decades, the benefits of growth have not been evenly distributed with observed rising income inequality and a still significant proportion of smallholders remaining under the poverty line. Similarly, despite considerable yield progress over the last three decades due to the introduction of improved inputs Ethiopian farmers’ yield gap compared with other developing countries is quite high. Moreover, the frequent occurrences of shocks such as drought and flooding adversely affect smallholders substantially and thereby exacerbate the existing poverty and food insecurity problems in the country. This thesis applied different econometric techniques to analyze the impact of the adoption of multiple agricultural technologies on crop yield, poverty, vulnerability, and resilience to food insecurity in Ethiopia. The study uses four rounds of household level panel data collected between 2012 and 2019 to assess the link between the adoption of the different combinations of five productivity-enhancing technologies: chemical fertilizer, improved seed, pesticide, and soil and water conservation practices: terracing and contour ploughing on consumption, poverty, vulnerability, and yields of smallholders. To solve the endogeneity problem in the regression models, we applied two-stage multinomial endogenous switching regression model combined with the Mundlak approach. Additionally, the thesis examines the role of the adoption of chemical fertilizer and improved seeds on household resilience to food insecurity amid the occurrence of adverse shocks. The findings are presented in three chapters of the cumulative thesis (Chapters two to four). Chapter two analyses the effect of productivity enhancing technologies and soil and water conservation measures and their possible combinations on consumption, poverty, and vulnerability to poverty. Per capita consumption expenditure for food and other essential non-food items, such as clothing and footwear, is used as a proxy variable to measure poverty. Using the national poverty line in 2011 prices, sample households are grouped into poor and non-poor households and the movement of sample households in and out of poverty between 2012 and 2016 is analyzed using a poverty transition matrix. By employing the ordered logit model, the study additionally examined the dynamics of poverty and vulnerability as well as their drivers. The results show that the adoption of the different combinations of agricultural technology sets including single technology adoption has considerable impacts on consumption expenditure and the greatest impact is attained when farmers combine multiple complementary inputs. Similarly, we find that the likelihood of households remaining poor or vulnerable decreased with adoption. In addition, the study revealed that poorer households are the least adopters of the technology combinations considered in the study, thereby being the least to benefit from adoption. We, therefore, conclude that the adoption of multiple complementary technologies has substantial dynamic benefits that improve the poverty and vulnerability status of households, and given the observed low level of adoption rates, we suggest that much more intervention is warranted, with a special focus on poorer and vulnerable households, to ensure smallholders get support to improve their input use. Chapter three assesses the impacts of multiple technology adoption on the yield of Ethiopia’s four staple crops, namely teff, wheat, maize and barley. Regarding the empirical estimation, we specified yield equations for each of the four crops and five to six possible input combinations that are included in the analysis indicating the presence of slope effect of technology choice other than the intercept of the outcome equations. The findings suggest that the application of two or more complementary inputs is considerably linked with higher maize, teff, barley, and wheat yield. Specifically, barley yield is highest for farmers who have adopted a combination of at least three of the technologies. Maize producers are the largest beneficiaries of the technologies. The impact of the technology choice sets tends to have an inconclusive effect on wheat and teff yields. However, a significant yield gap in all of the four crops was observed. Socio-economic characteristics of the household head such as age and gender as well as the household’s access to infrastructure and spatial characteristics of the household are other important determinants of crop yield. The implications are that more publicly funded efforts could be worthwhile for easing adoption constraints, which would in turn help smallholders to increase their crop yields that indirectly improve their livelihood. Chapter four aims to identify the determinants of household resilience to food insecurity which is the household’s ability to absorb or cope with the negative effects of shocks and bounce back to at least their initial livelihood status and assess its role on future household food security when hit by adverse shocks. Furthermore, the study analyzes the role of single or joint adoption of chemical fertilizer and improved seed on household food security. The household food security indicators used in the analysis are dietary diversity and per capita food consumption and uses data from the last three waves out of our four survey rounds. In terms of empirical estimation, the household resilience capacity index is estimated by combining factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Then different regression models are executed to assess the causal link between technology adoption and resilience capacity and household food security indicators in the face of adverse shocks. Our findings reveal that the most important pillars contributing to the building of household resilience capacity are assets followed by access to basic services. We find that the initial level of the household resilience score is significantly and positively associated with future household food security status. Moreover, the results reveal that the adoption of chemical fertilizer and improved seed is significantly and positively associated with household resilience capacity index, dietary diversity, and food consumption over time. Shocks such as drought appear to be significant contributors to the loss of household food security. Overall, it is revealed that the adoption of improved inputs significantly and positively increases household food security. However, the results show no evidence that supports the current level of adoption that helps households to shield themselves from the adverse effects of shocks. Finally, this study gives insights on examining the impacts and impact pathways of adoption of improved technologies on smallholder welfare which guide decision-makers for intervention as well as pave a way for future research that contributes to the fight against rural poverty and food insecurity. This thesis also concludes that public intervention in terms of investment in providing improved agricultural practices is crucial in improving rural livelihood, but it has to be inclusive and provide opportunities for the poor and vulnerable.