Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana
The rise in returns-to-scale (RTS) has often been an integral part of the agricultural transformation process around the world. Although tractor ownership is often associated with greater RTS in agriculture, whether tractor ownership actually causes such increase in RTS has not been formally tested...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2017
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147535 |
| _version_ | 1855528277975760896 |
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| author | Takeshima, Hiroyuki Houssou, Nazaire Diao, Xinshen |
| author_browse | Diao, Xinshen Houssou, Nazaire Takeshima, Hiroyuki |
| author_facet | Takeshima, Hiroyuki Houssou, Nazaire Diao, Xinshen |
| author_sort | Takeshima, Hiroyuki |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | The rise in returns-to-scale (RTS) has often been an integral part of the agricultural transformation process around the world. Although tractor ownership is often associated with greater RTS in agriculture, whether tractor ownership actually causes such increase in RTS has not been formally tested in the literature. We provide evidence that partly bridges this knowledge gap, using unique survey data of tractor-owning farm households in Ghana. We find that owning tractors significantly increases RTS in maize production from the households’ largest monocropped plot. Specifically, owning tractors raises RTS for farmers because they can till greater areas, even though returns from tilling more land remain relatively unaffected. The increase in RTS holds regardless of the values of tractors owned. These sets of evidence are obtained by addressing jointly the multiple sources of endogeneity of tractor ownership, tractor values, tillage intensity, and other inputs used, through combinations of inverse-probability weighing method, generalized method of moments method, and the mediation effects model with multiple mediators. The adoptions of mechanical technologies (tractors) and their ownerships are causing, rather than simply responding to, the rise in RTS in Ghanaian maize production. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace147535 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1475352025-11-06T06:32:00Z Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana Takeshima, Hiroyuki Houssou, Nazaire Diao, Xinshen modernization tractors probability analysis crop yield mechanization The rise in returns-to-scale (RTS) has often been an integral part of the agricultural transformation process around the world. Although tractor ownership is often associated with greater RTS in agriculture, whether tractor ownership actually causes such increase in RTS has not been formally tested in the literature. We provide evidence that partly bridges this knowledge gap, using unique survey data of tractor-owning farm households in Ghana. We find that owning tractors significantly increases RTS in maize production from the households’ largest monocropped plot. Specifically, owning tractors raises RTS for farmers because they can till greater areas, even though returns from tilling more land remain relatively unaffected. The increase in RTS holds regardless of the values of tractors owned. These sets of evidence are obtained by addressing jointly the multiple sources of endogeneity of tractor ownership, tractor values, tillage intensity, and other inputs used, through combinations of inverse-probability weighing method, generalized method of moments method, and the mediation effects model with multiple mediators. The adoptions of mechanical technologies (tractors) and their ownerships are causing, rather than simply responding to, the rise in RTS in Ghanaian maize production. 2017 2024-06-21T09:23:00Z 2024-06-21T09:23:00Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147535 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151363 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151392 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146282 application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Houssou, Nazaire; and Diao, Xinshen. 2017. Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1671. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147535 |
| spellingShingle | modernization tractors probability analysis crop yield mechanization Takeshima, Hiroyuki Houssou, Nazaire Diao, Xinshen Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana |
| title | Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana |
| title_full | Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana |
| title_fullStr | Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana |
| title_short | Effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns-to-scale in household maize production: Evidence from Ghana |
| title_sort | effects of tractor ownership on agricultural returns to scale in household maize production evidence from ghana |
| topic | modernization tractors probability analysis crop yield mechanization |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147535 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT takeshimahiroyuki effectsoftractorownershiponagriculturalreturnstoscaleinhouseholdmaizeproductionevidencefromghana AT houssounazaire effectsoftractorownershiponagriculturalreturnstoscaleinhouseholdmaizeproductionevidencefromghana AT diaoxinshen effectsoftractorownershiponagriculturalreturnstoscaleinhouseholdmaizeproductionevidencefromghana |