Impact of Adoption of Improved Groundnut Varieties on Factor Demand and Productivity in Uganda

The study analyzed the impact of adoption of improved groundnut varieties on farm inputs demand and productivity using instrumental variables approach. The data was collected from a simple random sample of 161 groundnut farmers in Eastern Uganda. Econometric results show significant increase in expenditure on improved seed and labor among adopters relative to the non-adopters. Adoption of improved varieties significantly increased groundnuts yield, by about 1688kg per hectare. Thus, more effort is needed to increase farmers’ access to improved varieties. The Government and partners should facilitate the development of local seed multiplication systems to reduce the cost of improved seed..Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Women’s empowerment boosts the gains in dietary diversity from agricultural technology adoption in rural Kenya

Using new survey data from rural Kenya, this paper assesses the moderating effect of women’s empowerment on the relationship between agricultural technology adoption and women’s dietary diversity. We use a multiple treatment endogenous switching regression framework to control for potential endogeneity of women’s empowerment and technology adoption. We find that women’s empowerment has a positive and significant effect on the women’s dietary diversity score regardless of technology adoption status. We further show that women’s empowerment enhances the positive effects of technology adoption on women’s dietary diversity. Although technology adoption has a positive impact on women’s dietary diversity regardless of empowerment status, its effect is stronger for households with empowered vs. disempowered women. Study results suggest that individual and household welfare could be enhanced to a greater degree through interventions that promote women’s empowerment and technology adoption simultaneously rather than separately

Impact of integrated fruit fly management strategy on food security among smallholder mango farmers in Kenya

Adoption of agricultural innovations is perceived as a key avenue for poverty reduction and improved food and nutritional security in developing countries. The International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) has developed and implemented a set of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies in several sub-Saharan African countries aimed at controlling mango infesting fruit flies (Bactrocera dorsalis). Although positive returns from the use of fruit fly IPM have already been documented, the impact of these technologies on food security is not well understood. This study evaluated the impact of the IPM strategy on food security with the help of a two-wave panel household survey data collected in Machakos County in Kenya. A difference-in-difference model was fitted to the data of a randomly selected sample of 600 mango growing households. A seven-day recall was used to elicit per capita calorie intake, while a 30-day recall was used to measure household dietary diversity. A before-and-after intervention and with-and-without (treatment and control) study design was utilized. The regression estimates indicate that fruit fly IPM use had a positive impact on per capita calorie intake but no significant effect on Household Dietary Diversity Index (HDDI) in comparison with the IPM non-users. This suggests that farmers using the fruit fly IPM technology benefit from income gains, and higher incomes improve the quantity of food consumed but not the diversity of the foods. This could be explained by a large share of the expenditure on food that was devoted to cereal staples such as maize, wheat, and rice as reported during the qualitative study. Other factors that had an effect on per capita calorie include the level of farm income, access to the extension services, wealth category and distance to agricultural input market and household size. This study recommends wider dissemination and upscaling of the fruit fly IPM strategy in mango producing regions to facilitate broader impacts on household-level food security

How does adoption of labor saving agricultural technologies affect intrahousehold resource allocations? The case of push-pull technology in Western Kenya

Considerable research documents why women farmers have lower technology adoption rates than men farmers, but relatively little is known about what happens within a household after technology uptake. This study contributes through an investigation of the intrahousehold distribution of benefits and costs of agricultural technology adoption in western Kenya. Using gender-disaggregated data and an endogenous switching regression approach, we elucidate the causal effects of push pull technology (PPT) adoption on intrahousehold labor and expenditure allocation. Results show that adoption increases household labor allocation for harvesting of maize, the staple crop, but reduces the labor required for other tasks (e.g., ploughing and weeding). In net, the technology is labor saving, with men experiencing a slightly greater workload reduction than women. In terms of expenditure impacts, PPT uptake increases household expenditures on children’s education and consumption goods commonly associated with female preferences. Study findings support wider uptake of PPT to trigger gains in social and economic wellbeing for both men and women farmers. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

Farmers’ acceptance of insects as an alternative protein source in poultry feeds

The research aimed at assessing the perceptions and willingness of poultry farmers, feed traders and processors to use insects as a source of protein ingredient in poultry feed. The research used a cross-sectional design and a structured questionnaire to collect quantitative data from 287 poultry farmers and 71 feed traders from 3 culturally diverse regions in Uganda. The study findings revealed that majority of the farmers mixed their own poultry feed. Willingness to use insects in poultry feeds was expressed by over 70% of the farmers, feed traders and processors, indicating a strong potential demand for insect-based feeds. However, some poultry farmers doubted the possibility of acquiring insects (rearing/harvesting) in large enough quantities and the consumers’ acceptance of poultry products from birds raised on insect-based feed. Nonetheless, there is a high potential for adoption of insects for use as poultry feed if they can be produced in sustainable quantities that ensure the viability of poultry farming and the feed processing businesses. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 8 (2): 32-41, December, 201

Adoption of soil and water conservation practices under different farming systems in the Sahel region of northern Mali

Climate change remains a major development challenge in developing countries, particularly in the Sub Saharan African economies. A study was conducted to assess the adoption of SWC practices under three farming systems (rice, cereals and mixed based) in the northern region of Mali. Data was collected from 297 farmer households, 16 NGOs and 11 focus group discussions in 11 villages. Results indicated that SWC measures are the most critical entry points for improving land resource resilience and agricultural productivity. At least one SWC practice was implemented by more than half of the farmers in the studied villages. However, the rate of adoption of the individual measures is generally low. Zai was the most common practice (43%), and the likelihood of adoption of any of the other SWC measures is less than 25%. Significant variation was observed among the three farming systems in the adoption of most of the SWC measures. About 69% of farmers residing in the mixed farming system used Zai compared to 34% (cereal) and 32% (rice). About 35% of farmers in the mixed system used ponds relative to 16% of the users in the cereals system. The most common constraints to SWC noted by farmers were lack of finance (29.5%) and limited labor (28%). The low uptake of SWC measures may hamper farmer households from achieving sustainable resilience to climate change. Inclusive strategies that include the use of improved crop varieties, integrated soil fertility management practices, credit schemes, and agro-meteorological forecasts in the extension and advisory services are recommended

Gendered Analysis of Stakeholder Perceptions of Climate Change, and the Barriers to its Adaptation in Mopti Region in Mali, Research Report no. 68

The current study presents the farmer and community perceptions of the causes and effects of climate change, the barriers to adoption of the resilient practices, and the present level of practices adoption in Mopti region in Mali, paying special attention to the gender of household head and farming systems in the region. The study results show that the majority of farmers perceive changes in climate in the past 10-20 years and that female-headed household in the region are more vulnerable to climate change. Strategies to adapt to climate change are diversified, but as expected, the proportion of adopting households is lower among the female-headed households than their male counterparts. The most commonly cited constraints to climate resilient practices adoption are low agricultural productivity, declining soil fertility and poor seed quality. However, female headed households have to withstand specific barriers including lack of finances, labor shortages and lack of access to land. Adoption of adaptation technologies was also assessed in various farming systems. The more diversified a farmer’s system is, the more climate resilient it is. Farmers’ reports that the most important adaptation methods influencing positively crop yield are mixed farming, irrigation, fertilizers and improved seed varieties. Crop yields, livestock units owned and per capita income significantly increase through technology diversification, but no clear relationship was observed with respect to food security indicators. In summary, the farming systems in the area are diversified but in order to have a more adaptive and resilient system, there is a need to design and implement inclusive locally adapted strategies promoting mixed farming and crop diversification, including use of improved crop varieties and soil fertility management. The lack of labor and finance, and lack of access to land and to adapted livestock breeds is also an important barrier to climate resilient strategies, in particular for female farmers. There is a need to implement innovative and inclusive credit schemes to increase farmers’ liquidity and capacity to invest in climate change adaptation. Increased adoption of climate resilient practices can also be enhanced by integrating climate change and agro-meteorological forecasts in the current extension and advisory services. Finally, improving local nutritional skills through enhanced diets could increase climate resilience by augmenting food security

Integrated health interventions for improved livelihoods: a case study in Ethiopia

Open Access Journal; Published online: 14 Mar 2020Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face multifaceted and co-existing risks, such as human and animal diseases and pests. Even though smallholder farmers often experience these challenges simultaneously, interventions to address these challenges are often implemented in a piecemeal fashion. However, managing agricultural production constraints without alleviating human and livestock health burdens might not generate significant and sustained benefits to achieve the desired development outcome (e.g., reducing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty). As such, building farmers’ resilience and adaptive capacity to co-existing production constraints and health burdens may require an integrated and holistic approach. Understanding the potential benefits of an integrated approach would provide critical information, for example, for revisiting the extension systems and for designing pro-poor holistically integrated interventions to tackle interrelated challenges facing smallholder farmers. In this paper, we examined the economic benefits of integrated human–plant–animal health interventions aimed at controlling malaria, stemborer infestations of crops, and trypanosomiasis, along with beekeeping as a livelihood diversification option in rural Ethiopia. We developed a whole-farm multiperiod mathematical linear programming model to examine the economic consequences of the interventions. Our results suggest that relaxing livelihoods and the human–plant–animal health constraints that farmers face has the potential to at least double income. The results further show that exploiting the potential synergies among interventions can generate higher economic benefits. The annual income from the combined interventions is 35% higher than the sum of the income gains from each intervention alone. Our results support an integrated approach to achieve holistic outcomes in areas where these development constraints co-exist

The role of gender on malaria preventive behaviour among rural households in Kenya

Malaria remains a major health and development challenge in the sub-Saharan African economies including Kenya, yet it can be prevented. Technologies to prevent malaria are available but are not universally adopted by male- and female-headed households. The study thus, examined the role of gender in malaria prevention, examining adoption behaviour between male- and female-headed households in Kenya

Are individuals willing to pay for community-based eco-friendly malaria vector control strategies? A case of mosquito larviciding using plant-based biopesticides in Kenya

This study was carried out to assess individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) for UZIMAX, a novel plant-based biopesticide developed for malaria vector control. The biopesticide is estimated to kill up to 100% of Anopheles larvae within 48 h of application and poses no risks to human health and the environment. However, scaling-up of its adoption requires clear evidence of its acceptance by individuals in malaria-prone areas. We conducted Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) revealed preference auctions with 204 participants to determine their willingness to pay (WTP) for community-based application of the biopesticide to control malaria vectors. Nearly all participants were willing to pay at the lowest bid price of the biopesticide, and the majority of them expressed great interest in pooling resources to facilitate biopesticide application. Household per capita income and building capacity of households through training significantly increased WTP. These findings imply high adoption potential of the technology and the need to devise inclusive policy tools, especially those that enhance collective action, resource mobilization and capacity building to empower both men and women and stimulate investment in eco-friendly technologies for malaria prevention. Financial and labor resource mechanisms managed by the community could potentially spur adoption of the biopesticides, and in turn, generate health, environmental and economic benefits to households in malaria-prone communities.The Biovision Foundation Switzerland. The article processing charge (APC) was funded by ICIPE core funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Kenyan Government.http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainabilityam2021UP Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP CSMC