Transfer of improved varieties in informal markets and the diffusion of embedded innovation: experimentation with genetic resources in Uganda

Martina Bozzola, Timothy Swanson and Helena Ting

No 46-2016, CIES Research Paper series from Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute

Abstract: We look at the diffusion of seed technology among Ugandan farmers. We present a target-input model to conceptualize the adoption decisions of a new technology in which the best use of inputs is unknown. In this framework, there is path dependency in the adoption process. We show that the group of innovators is well-defined but too small to overcome the system’s inertia. We find little evidence that seed policy reforms implemented in Uganda in the past 20 years boosted agricultural productivity, largely on account of a lack of local experimentation and inadequate use and diffusion of new seed varieties.

Keywords: Improved Seed; Seed Policy Reforms; Peer Effects; Uganda. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 O33 O34 Q12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2016-11-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse and nep-ino
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gii:ciesrp:cies_rp_46

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