Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi

Sustainable intensification and climate-smart agriculture initiatives promote complex systems-based innovations to simultaneously improve yields and conserve natural resources. These innovations are usually tested under near-perfect experimental conditions with purposively selected farmers. Using a...

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Main Authors: Haile, Beliyou, Azzarri, Carlo, Roberts, Cleo, Spielman, David J.
Format: Conference Paper
Language:Inglés
Published: International Association of Agricultural Economists 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150278
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author Haile, Beliyou
Azzarri, Carlo
Roberts, Cleo
Spielman, David J.
author_browse Azzarri, Carlo
Haile, Beliyou
Roberts, Cleo
Spielman, David J.
author_facet Haile, Beliyou
Azzarri, Carlo
Roberts, Cleo
Spielman, David J.
author_sort Haile, Beliyou
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Sustainable intensification and climate-smart agriculture initiatives promote complex systems-based innovations to simultaneously improve yields and conserve natural resources. These innovations are usually tested under near-perfect experimental conditions with purposively selected farmers. Using a quasi-experimental approach and geographic information system, we evaluate a systems-based sustainable intensification project in Malawi aiming at improving whole-farm productivity and nutrition through integrated agricultural innovations. We find adopters of these innovations to systematically differ from non-adopters and suggestive evidence of potential systematic targeting of project locations and households. Econometric results using efficient influence function and propensity score matching methods show consistently higher maize yield and value of harvest, on average and across quantiles, for project beneficiaries, compared to that of randomly selected non-beneficiary households in non-target villages. Our findings highlight the need to rethink selection criteria for systems-based innovations, something that could potentially bear severe implications upon scaling up. Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Roberts, Cleo; Spielman, David J.
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spelling CGSpace1502782024-11-13T12:23:15Z Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi Haile, Beliyou Azzarri, Carlo Roberts, Cleo Spielman, David J. seeds Sustainable intensification and climate-smart agriculture initiatives promote complex systems-based innovations to simultaneously improve yields and conserve natural resources. These innovations are usually tested under near-perfect experimental conditions with purposively selected farmers. Using a quasi-experimental approach and geographic information system, we evaluate a systems-based sustainable intensification project in Malawi aiming at improving whole-farm productivity and nutrition through integrated agricultural innovations. We find adopters of these innovations to systematically differ from non-adopters and suggestive evidence of potential systematic targeting of project locations and households. Econometric results using efficient influence function and propensity score matching methods show consistently higher maize yield and value of harvest, on average and across quantiles, for project beneficiaries, compared to that of randomly selected non-beneficiary households in non-target villages. Our findings highlight the need to rethink selection criteria for systems-based innovations, something that could potentially bear severe implications upon scaling up. Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Roberts, Cleo; Spielman, David J. 2015-12-21 2024-08-01T02:51:16Z 2024-08-01T02:51:16Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150278 en Open Access International Association of Agricultural Economists Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Roberts, Cleo; and Spielman, David J. 2015. Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi. International Association of Agricultural Economists 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy. https://purl.umn.edu/211697
spellingShingle seeds
Haile, Beliyou
Azzarri, Carlo
Roberts, Cleo
Spielman, David J.
Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi
title Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi
title_full Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi
title_fullStr Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi
title_full_unstemmed Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi
title_short Targeting, bias, and expected impact of complex innovations on developing-country agriculture: Evidence from Malawi
title_sort targeting bias and expected impact of complex innovations on developing country agriculture evidence from malawi
topic seeds
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150278
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