OBJECTIVES
To address, simultaneously, the most prominent barriers to technology adoption for smallholders: lack of credit or liquidity, insufficient information about optimal input use, limited use of complementary inputs and risk aversion.
PARTNERS & GRANTS
Agricultural Development Bank, J-PAL
METHODOLOGY
Experimental design (RCT)
DESCRIPTION
Technological improvement is a key determinant of long-term growth. The adoption of already existing profitable technologies could be enormously beneficial for poor households in developing countries, particularly in agriculture –which continues to employ the majority of the population in these countries.
In Mexico adoption of high yielding varieties and fertilizer continues to be low among farmers. In particular, maize yields for small farmers without access to irrigation are still below 2 tons/hectare, similar to yield rates in sub-Saharan Africa.
We will address these barriers by using different experimental interventions aimed at small Mexican maize farmers (collectively known as the Technological Guarantee Program):
A personalized soil analysis and recommendation for production inputs (e.g. seeds, fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, and conservation agriculture procedures) based on this analysis.
Credit to purchase the recommended inputs.
Frequent plot inspections by agricultural technicians to verify input use and advice on conservation agriculture methods.
A minimum income guarantee conditional on following input recommendations (i.e. households will receive transfers to guarantee that their post-harvest income is above a minimal amount).
MAIN FINDINGS
We found that agricultors use to much urea and use little of other fertilizers.
We show that personalized information on soil has small effects and that the lack of money to buy inputs is an important barrier.
We didn´t find advantages on providing results on soil analysis; but we did find that allowing producers to choose their inputs generates persistence in the use of better practices
QFD TEAM
Enrique Seira, Aprajit Mahajan, Xavier Giné, Carolina Corral, Michelle Infanzón, Víctor Pérez, Víctor Vergara, Mónica Vargas.
