Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation

Improved technologies are increasingly being promoted to farmers in sub-Saharan-African countries to address low agricultural productivity in their staple crops. There is, however, a lack of evidence on how adoption affects farmers’ labor use and profitability at the farm level, as well as the impor...

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Autores principales: Vandercasteelen, Joachim, Dereje, Mekdim, Minten, Bart, Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
Formato: Brief
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148347
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author Vandercasteelen, Joachim
Dereje, Mekdim
Minten, Bart
Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
author_browse Dereje, Mekdim
Minten, Bart
Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
Vandercasteelen, Joachim
author_facet Vandercasteelen, Joachim
Dereje, Mekdim
Minten, Bart
Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
author_sort Vandercasteelen, Joachim
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Improved technologies are increasingly being promoted to farmers in sub-Saharan-African countries to address low agricultural productivity in their staple crops. There is, however, a lack of evidence on how adoption affects farmers’ labor use and profitability at the farm level, as well as the importance gender roles play. This paper analyses the labor and profitability impact of the recently introduced row planting technology in teff production in Ethiopia. Based on agronomic evidence in experimental settings, the government of Ethiopia has focused extension efforts on promoting the widespread uptake of row planting to address low teff yields, replacing the traditional broadcasting method of planting teff. Using an innovative Randomized Controlled Trial set-up, we show that the implementation of row planting at the farm level significantly increases total labor use, but not teff yields, relative to broadcast planting, resulting in a substantial drop in labor productivity when adopting row planting. Moreover, the implementation of row planting has important consequences for inter- and intra-household labor allocation, with relatively more use of non-family labor. The adoption of row planting was further found not to be profitable for farmers in the first year of the promotion cam-paign, seemingly explaining the limited success in up-scaling the adoption of the technology by farmers in the second year of the program.
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spelling CGSpace1483472025-11-06T07:06:27Z Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation Vandercasteelen, Joachim Dereje, Mekdim Minten, Bart Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum broadcast sowing gender teff labour smallholders productivity yields planting experimental design line planting Improved technologies are increasingly being promoted to farmers in sub-Saharan-African countries to address low agricultural productivity in their staple crops. There is, however, a lack of evidence on how adoption affects farmers’ labor use and profitability at the farm level, as well as the importance gender roles play. This paper analyses the labor and profitability impact of the recently introduced row planting technology in teff production in Ethiopia. Based on agronomic evidence in experimental settings, the government of Ethiopia has focused extension efforts on promoting the widespread uptake of row planting to address low teff yields, replacing the traditional broadcasting method of planting teff. Using an innovative Randomized Controlled Trial set-up, we show that the implementation of row planting at the farm level significantly increases total labor use, but not teff yields, relative to broadcast planting, resulting in a substantial drop in labor productivity when adopting row planting. Moreover, the implementation of row planting has important consequences for inter- and intra-household labor allocation, with relatively more use of non-family labor. The adoption of row planting was further found not to be profitable for farmers in the first year of the promotion cam-paign, seemingly explaining the limited success in up-scaling the adoption of the technology by farmers in the second year of the program. 2016-10-27 2024-06-21T09:24:26Z 2024-06-21T09:24:26Z Brief https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148347 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148235 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Ethiopian Development Research Institute Vandercasteelen, Joachim; Dereje, Mekdim; Minten, Bart; and Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum. 2016. Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation. ESSP II Research Note 59. Washington, DC and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148347
spellingShingle broadcast sowing
gender
teff
labour
smallholders
productivity
yields
planting
experimental design
line planting
Vandercasteelen, Joachim
Dereje, Mekdim
Minten, Bart
Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation
title Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation
title_full Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation
title_fullStr Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation
title_full_unstemmed Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation
title_short Synopsis: Row planting teff in Ethiopia: Impact on farm-level profitability and labor allocation
title_sort synopsis row planting teff in ethiopia impact on farm level profitability and labor allocation
topic broadcast sowing
gender
teff
labour
smallholders
productivity
yields
planting
experimental design
line planting
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148347
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AT mintenbart synopsisrowplantingteffinethiopiaimpactonfarmlevelprofitabilityandlaborallocation
AT taffessealemayehuseyoum synopsisrowplantingteffinethiopiaimpactonfarmlevelprofitabilityandlaborallocation