Agricultural Transformation and Farmers' Expectations: Experimental Evidence from Uganda

Jacopo Bonan, Harounan Kazianga and Mariapia Mendola

No 456, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: Why adoption rate of potentially profitable agricultural technologies in Africa remains low is still puzzling. This paper uses a randomized control trial to study Ugandan subsistence smallholders' decisions to adopt cash crops. A unique way of eliciting farmers price and yield expectations allows us to investigate the role of farmers' ex-ante beliefs about crop profitability on adoption decisions. We find that the provision of extension services increases oilseeds adoption by 15%, and farmers who under-estimate oilseeds price at baseline are the most likely to adopt the new crops. The results suggest that changes in expectations drive agricultural technology take-up.

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Commercial Farming; Randomized Controlled Trial; Uganda (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 O33 Q14 Q15 Q16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Agricultural Transformation and Farmers' Expectations: Experimental Evidence from Uganda (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:456

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