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Trade and agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from Africa

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  • Porteous, Obie

Abstract

The incentives for and effects of widespread technology adoption depend on the trade costs separating producers from input and output markets. I incorporate the decision to adopt imported fertilizer into a model of agricultural trade between 230 regional markets across sub-Saharan Africa. I then evaluate two alternative approaches to promoting technology adoption: lowering trade costs and subsidizing fertilizer. Whereas trade cost reduction shifts production towards the most productive regions, subsidies lead to larger increases in fertilizer use. Greater adoption lowers local food prices under existing high trade costs but only increases farmer incomes when trade costs are low.

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  • Porteous, Obie, 2020. "Trade and agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:144:y:2020:i:c:s0304387819301956
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102440
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    3. Clark Lundberg & Ryan Abman, 2022. "Maize price volatility and deforestation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(2), pages 693-716, March.
    4. Berazneva, Julia & Maertens, Annemie & Mhango, Wezi & Michelson, Hope, 2023. "Paying for agricultural information in Malawi: The role of soil heterogeneity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    5. Linwei Wang & Yixin Hu & Rong Kong, 2023. "The Impact of Bancassurance Interaction on the Adoption Behavior of Green Production Technology in Family Farms: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, April.
    6. Huw Lloyd-Ellis & Ardyn Nordstrom, 2021. "Trade, poverty and food security: A survey of recent research and its implications for East Africa," Working Paper 1460, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    7. Porteous, Obie, 2022. "Reverse Dutch disease with trade costs: Prospects for agriculture in Africa's oil-rich economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    8. Relwende Apollinaire Nikiema, 2021. "Adoption of yield-increasing technologies in poorly integrated crop output markets," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 319-330.
    9. David Israel Contreras-Medina & Luis Miguel Contreras-Medina & Joaliné Pardo-Nuñez & Luis Alberto Olvera-Vargas & Carlos Mario Rodriguez-Peralta, 2020. "Roadmapping as a Driver for Knowledge Creation: A Proposal for Improving Sustainable Practices in the Coffee Supply Chain from Chiapas, Mexico, Using Emerging Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Technology adoption; Trade costs; Input subsidies; Fertilizer; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • Q17 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agriculture in International Trade
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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