The poverty impacts of improved cowpea varieties in Nigeria: a counterfactual analysis

Open Access Article; Published online: 12 June 2019Adoption of improved agricultural technologies has long been recognized as critical for reducing poverty through increased productivity, incomes, and asset accumulation. Using a nationally representative survey data from a sample of over 1500 households in Nigeria, this paper evaluates the impacts of adoption of improved cowpea varieties on income and asset poverty reduction using an endogenous switching regression model. The results showed that adoption of improved cowpea varieties increased per capita household income and asset ownership by 17 and 24 percentage points, respectively. The results based on the observed and counterfactual income and asset distributions further showed that adoption reduced both income poverty and asset poverty by 5 percentage points. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy options for increasing adoption and impacts of improved cowpea varieties in Nigeria

Is taking gender into account for development and diffusion of agricultural innovations justified? The case of drought tolerant maize in Northern Benin

This study was initiated to contribute to the debate on the relationship between gender and adoption of innovations. It aims, under a participatory varietal selection, to identify the preferences of men and women farmers on maize varieties tolerant to drought in northern Benin. The methodology used is a comparison of two approaches to identify the best varieties according to gender. The first combines criteria weighting and a comparison of varieties. The second is based on the principle of democratic vote. Sixty farmers have participated in this study. The results of this work show two keys points. At the stage of criteria selection, women identified the organoleptic quality as a preferred seed characteristic. By comparing the results of the two methods of choice, it appears that both methods lead to the same results in the case of women’s preferences, while in men groups, the results vary according to the methods. It contributes to the literature by showing how distinctly women can prioritize criteria that are not the top concern of the men and by the way, can contribute to increase the adoption of varieties that contains both preferences of men and women

Une approche intégrée pour améliorer la résilience des populations rurales au Burkina Faso

Si le renforcement de la résilience aux crises alimentaire et nutritionnelle des populations rurales a fait l’objet de plusieurs projets et programmes, le cloisonnement des différentes interventions menées n’a pas permis de lutter efficacement contre l’insécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle. Pour répondre à cette problématique, la Fédération des professionnels agricoles du Burkina Faso (FEPAB) et l’ONG Gret ont développé une approche innovante, alliant agriculture et nutrition, l’approche « 3AN »

Evaluation of the utilization of heated sewage sludge for peri-urban horticulture production in the Sahel of West Africa

Shortage of organic matter hinders agricultural production in the Sahel, and this lack of enough organic matter is more severe for peri-urban horticulture, which depends heavily on it. Alternative sources of organic matter that offer new options for peri-urban horticulture can help reduce the potential for conflict over finite resources between traditional crop production and peri-urban horticulture. Both agronomic and economic evaluations of an organic amendment called heated sewage sludge (HSS) were conducted in the research station of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)-Niamey, Niger, West Africa. For this study, HSS, a material imported from Japan, applied at a dosage application equivalent to 20.0 kg 100 m-2 on lettuce fields led to production levels as high as those of conventional methods, and the yield became even higher than those of conventional methods when the dosage was increased to 50.0 kg 100 m-2 and 100.0 kg 100 m-2. Even though HSS was imported, its benefits outweighed its cost, as evidenced by the positive net returns. Since profitability in peri-urban horticulture is much higher than that of traditional crop production, the results of this study imply that if adopted, the use of HSS can lead to increased availability of organic matter for traditional croppin

Characteristics of maize cultivars in Africa: how modern are they and how many do smallholder farmers grow?

Open Access Journal; Published online: 17 March 2017Maize is the most important cereal and most widely cultivated staple that plays a key role in the food security of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Although some countries have achieved significant gains in maize productivity, the SSA average yields are far below what could be obtained with improved cultivars under good crop management. Low cultivar turnover is one among many contributing factors to low maize yields in SSA. At present, there is a critical knowledge gap on the identity, number, and age of maize cultivars currently grown by smallholder farmers on the continent. Results This study revealed that nearly 500 maize cultivars were grown in 13 African countries surveyed in the 2013/2014 main crop season. Sixty-nine percent of the cultivars each occupied 40% and four occupied >30% area. Approximately 32% of all the cultivars were hybrids, 23% were improved open-pollinated varieties (OPVs), and 46% were locals. Eastern Africa (EA) and southern Africa (SA) accounted for about 43 and 38%, respectively, of all the cultivars reported, whereas West Africa’s (WA) share was 19%. The average area planted to modern cultivars in the surveyed areas was estimated at 57%—with EA, SA, and WA estimates of 82, 55, and 36%, respectively; however, increased adoption was not necessarily always related to improved productivity, as the latter depends on many additional factors. Each household planted an average of 1.781 cultivars (range 1–8). The overall weighted average age of the cultivars was 15 years, with hybrids and OPVs being 13 and 18 years, respectively. Conclusions Maize variety turnover in SSA is slower than what is practiced in the USA and other world regions such as Latin America and Asia. The substantial variations among regions and countries in all parameters measured suggest a tailored approach to mitigation interventions. Findings of this current study pave the way for replacing the old cultivars with more recent releases that are tolerant or resistant to multiple stresses and are more resilient

Misperceiving and misreporting input quality: implications for input use and productivity

Open Access Article; Published online: 01 Apr 2022Farmers in developing countries routinely misperceive or misreport input quality for various reasons, which introduces substantial measurement error in farm survey data. In this paper, we motivate and illustrate, both analytically and empirically, the inferential and behavioral implications of misperception and misreporting using a unique crop variety identification data from Nigeria. Using a non-parametric framework for testing the presence of measurement error, we show that crop variety misclassification in our data is mostly driven by misperception. We then demonstrate the inferential challenges of treating misperception as misreporting and vice versa. Finally, we show that misperception induces crowding-in(out) of complementary agricultural inputs but these misperception-driven input allocations may not necessarily be yield-enhancing. As such, rectifying misperception by addressing agricultural input market imperfections may improve farmers’ investment choices and productivity outcomes

Gender Differentials and Adoption of Drought Tolerant Maize Varieties among Farmers in Northern Nigeria

This study examined gender differences in farmer’s adoption of drought tolerant maize (DTM) varieties in Northern Nigeria. Specifically, it described the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers by gender; determined their rate of adoption of the DTM varieties; and analysed the factors affecting the rate of adoption of the varieties. The study was conducted in seven: Borno, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara, and Kwara states of Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 946 respondents, comprising 626 males and 320 females. Data were collected with the use of a survey questionnaire that contained questions on respondent’s socio- economic characteristics such as age, years of schooling, household size, farm size, access to credit, level of awareness and adoption of DTM varieties and extension contact, among others. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and probit regression model. The results for the entire respondents showed average values of 46 years for age, seven years for year of schooling, 11 for household size, 6.93 for farm size and 5.7 ha for land area allocated to maize, with a significant difference (p<0.05) between male and female farmers for each of the variables. The adoption rate of DTM was 56.3% on the average in the entire sample with a significant difference (p<0.05) between male (61.8%) and female farmers (53.5%). The determinants of adoption of DTM varieties for both male and female farmers were access to credit, participation in field days, household size, fertilizer application, source of seeds and level of awareness of the variety, specific to male farmers was land area allocated to maize and number of livestock while source of information about the DTM variety was specific to female famers. It was concluded that policy strategies aimed at improving the uptake of DTM varieties must consider equality in male and female farmers’ access to basic resources, such as credit, land, labour, and participation in different meetings. Keywords: Gender, Drought tolerant, Maize varieties, Adoption, Nigeria.

Social Capital and Citizens’ Attitudes towards Migrant Workers

This study examines Qatari citizens’ attitudes toward migrant workers. While much research has been conducted on citizens’ attitudes toward the abolition, tightening, or loosening of the Kafāla system in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with regard to migrant workers’ residency rights, and on their contribution to the economic development of these countries, little is known about how citizens’ religiosity and social engagement impact their acceptance of migrant workers. In the present study, we address this question by examining the effects of religious and social capital on Qatari citizens’ preferences for having Arab and Western migrant workers as neighbours, drawing on data from two nationally representative surveys in Qatar. The results indicate that, even after controlling for a wide range of socio-demographic attributes, social capital in terms of trust and bridging social ties has a strong effect on the Qatari nationals’ preferences

Gender and impact of climate change adaptation on soybean farmers' revenue in rural Togo, west Africa

Open Access JournalThis study assesses the impact of climate change (CC) adaptation on farm-level revenue among 500 soybean farmers randomly selected in three districts in Togo using endogenous switching regression method. The survey results indicate that only 40.37% of the women have adapted to CC against 59.62% of the men. Moreover, being member of farmer-based organization (FBO), access to credit and extension services, agricultural training of women are the main factors that increase the likelihood of adaptation. The gender-differentiated impact shows that women would earn more than men from adaptation, while losing compared to men if they do not take any adaptation actions. The loss from non-adapting to CC will increase by 0.268% of the soybean revenue. However, the heterogeneity effects suggest further assessment on the adopted technology in soybean farming in the study areas. Adaptation policy that seeks to ensure food security and enhance farmers’ welfare in subsistence agriculture should consider the gender dimension, while reviewing the financial policy in terms of affordability, access of extension services and supporting FBO will increase technologies adoption and farming revenue