Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption

Evidence is emerging that foodborne illness accounts for a staggering health burden in developing countries. However, standard approaches used by developed country governments to ensure food safety are not appropriate in settings where regulatory enforcement capacity is weak and most firms are small...

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Autores principales: Hoffmann, Vivian, Jones, Kelly M.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142943
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author Hoffmann, Vivian
Jones, Kelly M.
author_browse Hoffmann, Vivian
Jones, Kelly M.
author_facet Hoffmann, Vivian
Jones, Kelly M.
author_sort Hoffmann, Vivian
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Evidence is emerging that foodborne illness accounts for a staggering health burden in developing countries. However, standard approaches used by developed country governments to ensure food safety are not appropriate in settings where regulatory enforcement capacity is weak and most firms are small and informal. Using a randomized field experiment, we test the impacts of subsidies and a price premium for safer produce on farmer adoption of technologies that improve food safety. We find that the food safety practices of farmers who produce maize for sale are inferior to those of farmers who produce maize only for household consumption, but that both a price incentive and technology subsidies can partially close this gap. We combine our experimental adoption results with prior evidence on the efficacy of the technologies studied to simulate the public health impacts of alternative policies. Our simulations show that interventions to reduce aflatoxin exposure are likely to be cost-effective based on averted poisoning deaths and cancer cases alone. Potential impacts on stunting, which are not as well established and more difficult to value, would imply additional health benefits. Of the options considered, providing training and plastic drying sheets to farmers free of charge is the most cost-effective.
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spelling CGSpace1429432025-02-24T06:47:29Z Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption Hoffmann, Vivian Jones, Kelly M. foodborne diseases technology adoption health technology farmers food safety incentives aflatoxins subsidies prices public health Evidence is emerging that foodborne illness accounts for a staggering health burden in developing countries. However, standard approaches used by developed country governments to ensure food safety are not appropriate in settings where regulatory enforcement capacity is weak and most firms are small and informal. Using a randomized field experiment, we test the impacts of subsidies and a price premium for safer produce on farmer adoption of technologies that improve food safety. We find that the food safety practices of farmers who produce maize for sale are inferior to those of farmers who produce maize only for household consumption, but that both a price incentive and technology subsidies can partially close this gap. We combine our experimental adoption results with prior evidence on the efficacy of the technologies studied to simulate the public health impacts of alternative policies. Our simulations show that interventions to reduce aflatoxin exposure are likely to be cost-effective based on averted poisoning deaths and cancer cases alone. Potential impacts on stunting, which are not as well established and more difficult to value, would imply additional health benefits. Of the options considered, providing training and plastic drying sheets to farmers free of charge is the most cost-effective. 2021-07-01 2024-05-22T12:11:21Z 2024-05-22T12:11:21Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142943 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147240 Open Access Elsevier Hoffmann, Vivian; and Jones, Kelly M. 2021. Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption. World Development 143(July 2021): 105406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105406
spellingShingle foodborne diseases
technology adoption
health
technology
farmers
food safety
incentives
aflatoxins
subsidies
prices
public health
Hoffmann, Vivian
Jones, Kelly M.
Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption
title Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption
title_full Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption
title_fullStr Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption
title_full_unstemmed Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption
title_short Improving food safety on the farm: Experimental evidence from Kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption
title_sort improving food safety on the farm experimental evidence from kenya on incentives and subsidies for technology adoption
topic foodborne diseases
technology adoption
health
technology
farmers
food safety
incentives
aflatoxins
subsidies
prices
public health
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142943
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