Back from Israel: The Causal Impacts of Training in Modern Farms on Smallholder Cultivation in Nepal

Ram Fishman, Michal Eliezer and Maya Oren
Additional contact information
Ram Fishman: Tel Aviv University
Michal Eliezer: Tel Aviv University
Maya Oren: Tel Aviv University

Working Papers from The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy

Abstract: What are the effects of agricultural knowledge transfer on smallholder farmers? Experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations of agricultural extensions programs remain scant. Moreover, such programs are known to suffer from deep implementation flaws, making it difficult to assess whether low impacts are observed because of poor implementation or because knowledge is not in fact the binding constraint to adoption of improved practices. We utilize a unique natural experiment, in which Nepali smallholder farmers are selected by lottery to take part in an agricultural training and employment in Israel. The program is entirely commercially based, and immerses participants in modern Israeli farms for a year, where they receive classroom instructions about modern farming and employed by commercial farmers. Upon their return to Nepal, program participants are more likely to engage in agriculture for their income, operate an agricultural business and to invest in their farms. Their expenditures on inputs and market access, as well as their agricultural revenues, are substantially higher. However, we see limited evidence for dramatic shifts to modern farming methods. These results are in line with self-reported learnings from the program which are highlight managerial skills.

Keywords: Agriculture; Extension; Technology Adoption; Skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2021-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev and nep-exp
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www2.gwu.edu/~iiep/assets/docs/papers/2021WP/FishmanIIEP2021-05.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2021-05

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kyle Renner ().