Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption

Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption PDF Author: Miehe, Caroline
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 27

Get Book Here

Book Description
To fully benefit from new agricultural technologies like improved seed varieties, significant investment in complementary inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, and practices such as systematic planting, irrigation, and weeding are also required. Farmers may fail to recognize the importance of these complements, leading to unsatisfactory crop yields and outputs and, eventually, dis-adoption of the variety. We provide a simple model of biased expectations, complementary input use and technology adoption and test its predictions using a field experiment among smallholder maize farmers in eastern Uganda. We find that pointing out the importance of complementary investments using a short, engaging video effectively deters some farmers from using commercial improved varieties. Consistent with the theoretical model, we find some evidence that this behavior change emanates from increased knowledge and expectations that are more in line with realized outcomes.

Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption

Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption PDF Author: Miehe, Caroline
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 27

Get Book Here

Book Description
To fully benefit from new agricultural technologies like improved seed varieties, significant investment in complementary inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, and practices such as systematic planting, irrigation, and weeding are also required. Farmers may fail to recognize the importance of these complements, leading to unsatisfactory crop yields and outputs and, eventually, dis-adoption of the variety. We provide a simple model of biased expectations, complementary input use and technology adoption and test its predictions using a field experiment among smallholder maize farmers in eastern Uganda. We find that pointing out the importance of complementary investments using a short, engaging video effectively deters some farmers from using commercial improved varieties. Consistent with the theoretical model, we find some evidence that this behavior change emanates from increased knowledge and expectations that are more in line with realized outcomes.

Miracle Seeds

Miracle Seeds PDF Author: Caroline Miehe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Harvesting Prosperity

Harvesting Prosperity PDF Author: Keith Fuglie
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9781464813931
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book documents frontier knowledge on the drivers of agriculture productivity to derive pragmatic policy advice for governments and development partners on reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The analysis describes global trends and long-term sources of total factor productivity growth, along with broad trends in partial factor productivity for land and labor, revisiting the question of scale economies in farming. Technology is central to growth in agricultural productivity, yet across many parts of the developing world, readily available technology is never taken up. We investigate demand-side constraints of the technology equation to analyze factors that might influence producers, particularly poor producers, to adopt modern technology. Agriculture and food systems are rapidly transforming, characterized by shifting food preferences, the rise and growing sophistication of value chains, the increasing globalization of agriculture, and the expanding role of the public and private sectors in bringing about efficient and more rapid productivity growth. In light of this transformation, the analysis focuses on the supply side of the technology equation, exploring how the enabling environment and regulations related to trade and intellectual property rights stimulate Research and Development to raise productivity. The book also discusses emerging developments in modern value chains that contribute to rising productivity. This book is the fourth volume of the World Bank Productivity Project, which seeks to bring frontier thinking on the measurement and determinants of productivity to global policy makers.

Agriculture, Diversification, and Gender in Rural Africa

Agriculture, Diversification, and Gender in Rural Africa PDF Author: Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198799284
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book contributes to the understanding of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa through addressing the dynamics of intensification and diversification within and outside agriculture in contexts where women have much poorer access to agrarian resources than men

Albion's Seed

Albion's Seed PDF Author: David Hackett Fischer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019974369X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 981

Get Book Here

Book Description
This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.

Agricultural Technologies and Tropical Deforestation

Agricultural Technologies and Tropical Deforestation PDF Author: Arild Angelsen
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 9780851998992
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 440

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book has been developed from a workshop on Technological change in agriculture and tropical deforestation organised by the Center for International Forestry Research and held in Costa Rica in March, 1999. It explores how intensification of agriculture affects tropical deforestation using case studies from different geographical regions, using different agricultural products and technologies and in differing demographic situations and market conditions. Guidance is also given on future agricultural research and extension efforts.

Ghana's Economic and Agricultural Transformation

Ghana's Economic and Agricultural Transformation PDF Author: Xinshen Diao
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198845340
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Get Book Here

Book Description
Using Ghana as a case study, this work integrates economic and political analysis to explore the challenges and opportunities of Africa's growth and transformation.

Asian Rice Bowls

Asian Rice Bowls PDF Author: Prabhu L. Pingali
Publisher: Int. Rice Res. Inst.
ISBN: 0851991629
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 350

Get Book Here

Book Description
Introduction: the state of rice in post-green-revolution Asia; Rice productivity growth: the case against complacency; Sustaining farm profits through technical change; Intensification-induced degradation of the paddy resource base; Erosion, pollution and poison: externalities and rice; Asian rice market: demand and supply prospects; GATT and rice: impact on the rice market and implications for research priorities; Agricultural commercialization and farmer product choices: the case of diversification out of rice; Strategic look at factor markets and the organization of agricultural production beyond 2025; Post-green-revolution seed technology for intensive rice systems; Fertilizers and pesticides: higher levels versus improved efficiencies; Dealing with labor scarcity: mechanical technologies.

Seed Science and Technology

Seed Science and Technology PDF Author: Shirley Doy
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781682861547
Category : Seed technology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The recent researches performed in seed science have transformed agricultural practices and have affected agricultural production as well. This book is meant for students who are looking for an elaborate reference text on seed science. It delves into significant topics, such as seed development, seed structure, germination, etc. With state-of-the-art inputs by acclaimed experts of this field, this book targets students and professionals alike.

Inclusive Green Growth

Inclusive Green Growth PDF Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821395513
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
"This report was written by a team led by Marianne Fay [... et al.]."