Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption
To fully benefit from new agricultural technologies like improved seed varieties, significant investment in complementary inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, and practices such as systematic planting, irrigation, and weeding are also required. Farmers may fail to recognize the importance of the...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
University of Chicago Press
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173759 |
| _version_ | 1855524773595971584 |
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| author | Miehe, Caroline Nabwire, Leocardia Sparrow, Robert Spielman, David J. Van Campenhout, Bjorn |
| author_browse | Miehe, Caroline Nabwire, Leocardia Sparrow, Robert Spielman, David J. Van Campenhout, Bjorn |
| author_facet | Miehe, Caroline Nabwire, Leocardia Sparrow, Robert Spielman, David J. Van Campenhout, Bjorn |
| author_sort | Miehe, Caroline |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | To fully benefit from new agricultural technologies like improved seed varieties, significant investment in complementary inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, and practices such as systematic planting, irrigation, and weeding are also required. Farmers may fail to recognize the importance of these complements, leading to disappointing crop yields and outputs and, eventually, dis-adoption of the improved variety. Using a field experiment, we test an information intervention among smallholder maize farmers in eastern Uganda that points out these complementarities. We find that farmers adopt less after they have been sensitized about the need to use complementary inputs to unlock the adoption premium. We rationalize this finding with a simple theoretical model where farmers have mis-specified mental models of the technology production function and conclude that most farmers in our sample do indeed believe in miracle seeds. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace173759 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | University of Chicago Press |
| publisherStr | University of Chicago Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1737592025-10-26T13:00:45Z Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption Miehe, Caroline Nabwire, Leocardia Sparrow, Robert Spielman, David J. Van Campenhout, Bjorn agricultural technology fertilizers pesticides seed systems To fully benefit from new agricultural technologies like improved seed varieties, significant investment in complementary inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, and practices such as systematic planting, irrigation, and weeding are also required. Farmers may fail to recognize the importance of these complements, leading to disappointing crop yields and outputs and, eventually, dis-adoption of the improved variety. Using a field experiment, we test an information intervention among smallholder maize farmers in eastern Uganda that points out these complementarities. We find that farmers adopt less after they have been sensitized about the need to use complementary inputs to unlock the adoption premium. We rationalize this finding with a simple theoretical model where farmers have mis-specified mental models of the technology production function and conclude that most farmers in our sample do indeed believe in miracle seeds. 2025-10-01 2025-03-20T14:59:04Z 2025-03-20T14:59:04Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173759 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142345 https://doi.org/10.1002/ajae.12089 Open Access University of Chicago Press Miehe, Caroline; Nabwire, Leocardia; Sparrow, Robert; Spielman, David J.; and Van Campenhout, Bjorn. 2025. Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption. Economic Development and Cultural Change 74(1): 305–334. https://doi.org/10.1086/735822 |
| spellingShingle | agricultural technology fertilizers pesticides seed systems Miehe, Caroline Nabwire, Leocardia Sparrow, Robert Spielman, David J. Van Campenhout, Bjorn Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption |
| title | Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption |
| title_full | Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption |
| title_fullStr | Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption |
| title_full_unstemmed | Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption |
| title_short | Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption |
| title_sort | miracle seeds biased expectations complementary input use and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption |
| topic | agricultural technology fertilizers pesticides seed systems |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173759 |
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