Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya

Agroforestry is widely purported to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, rehabilitate degraded landscapes, and enhance the provisioning of ecosystem services. Yet, evidence supporting these longer-term impacts is limited. Using a quasi-experimental impact evaluation design informed by a t...

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Main Authors: Hughes, K., Morgan, S., Baylis, K., Oduol, J., Smith-Dumont, E., Vågen, Tor-Gunnar, Kegode, H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/111586
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author Hughes, K.
Morgan, S.
Baylis, K.
Oduol, J.
Smith-Dumont, E.
Vågen, Tor-Gunnar
Kegode, H.
author_browse Baylis, K.
Hughes, K.
Kegode, H.
Morgan, S.
Oduol, J.
Smith-Dumont, E.
Vågen, Tor-Gunnar
author_facet Hughes, K.
Morgan, S.
Baylis, K.
Oduol, J.
Smith-Dumont, E.
Vågen, Tor-Gunnar
Kegode, H.
author_sort Hughes, K.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Agroforestry is widely purported to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, rehabilitate degraded landscapes, and enhance the provisioning of ecosystem services. Yet, evidence supporting these longer-term impacts is limited. Using a quasi-experimental impact evaluation design informed by a theory-based and mixed methods framework, we investigated selected intermediate and final outcomes of a nine-year effort led by Vi Agroforestry, a Swedish non-governmental organization (NGO), to promote agroforestry in large sections of Bungoma and Kakamega counties in western Kenya. We compared households belonging to 432 pre-existing farmer groups operating in 60 program villages and 61 matched comparison villages. To address potential self-selection bias, we used program targeting as an instrument for program participation, combined with the difference-in-differences approach to control for time-invariant differences between our treatment and comparison groups. We complemented the above with semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of 40 purposively selected program participants. Despite evidence of variable program exposure and agroforestry uptake, we found modest, yet statistically significant, effects of Vi Agroforestry’s program on intermediate outcomes, such as agroforestry product income, fuelwood access, and milk yields among dairy farmers. We also found that this program modestly increased asset holdings, particularly among households represented by female program participants.
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spelling CGSpace1115862023-12-08T19:36:04Z Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya Hughes, K. Morgan, S. Baylis, K. Oduol, J. Smith-Dumont, E. Vågen, Tor-Gunnar Kegode, H. agroforestry livelihoods ecosystem services Agroforestry is widely purported to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, rehabilitate degraded landscapes, and enhance the provisioning of ecosystem services. Yet, evidence supporting these longer-term impacts is limited. Using a quasi-experimental impact evaluation design informed by a theory-based and mixed methods framework, we investigated selected intermediate and final outcomes of a nine-year effort led by Vi Agroforestry, a Swedish non-governmental organization (NGO), to promote agroforestry in large sections of Bungoma and Kakamega counties in western Kenya. We compared households belonging to 432 pre-existing farmer groups operating in 60 program villages and 61 matched comparison villages. To address potential self-selection bias, we used program targeting as an instrument for program participation, combined with the difference-in-differences approach to control for time-invariant differences between our treatment and comparison groups. We complemented the above with semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of 40 purposively selected program participants. Despite evidence of variable program exposure and agroforestry uptake, we found modest, yet statistically significant, effects of Vi Agroforestry’s program on intermediate outcomes, such as agroforestry product income, fuelwood access, and milk yields among dairy farmers. We also found that this program modestly increased asset holdings, particularly among households represented by female program participants. 2020-04 2021-02-28T10:58:10Z 2021-02-28T10:58:10Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/111586 en Open Access Elsevier Hughes, K., Morgan, S., Baylis, K., Oduol, J., Smith-Dumont, E., Vågen, T.G. and Kegode, H., 2020. Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya. World Development, 128: 104835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104835
spellingShingle agroforestry
livelihoods
ecosystem services
Hughes, K.
Morgan, S.
Baylis, K.
Oduol, J.
Smith-Dumont, E.
Vågen, Tor-Gunnar
Kegode, H.
Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya
title Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya
title_full Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya
title_fullStr Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya
title_short Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya
title_sort assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in kenya
topic agroforestry
livelihoods
ecosystem services
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/111586
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