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Technology Adoption When Risk Attitudes Matter: Evidence from Incentivized Field Experiments in Niger

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  • Sanou, Awa
  • Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.
  • Shupp, Robert

Abstract

Fertilizer micro-dosing is a precision fertilizer application technique with the potential to improve agricultural productivity and livelihoods in the semi- arid-tropics. Despite more than two decades of disseminating the technology in Niger, micro-dosing adoption rates remain low with evidence of dis-adoption. Since fertilizer is a risk increasing technology, this paper estimates the effects of risk attitudes on fertilizer use and the practice of micro-dosing. We use different methods to elicit measures of risk aversion and supplement those with measures of aversion to ambiguity and loss. We find that incentivized measures of risk attitudes have better predictive power than general measures based on hypothetical survey questions. Among the risk attitudes explored, risk aversion tends to matter in the decision to use fertilizer and in the choice of an application technique when fertilizer is used. This indicates that ex post programs like insurance could promote the use of fertilizer and fertilizer micro-dosing among risk averse farmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanou, Awa & Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. & Shupp, Robert, 2015. "Technology Adoption When Risk Attitudes Matter: Evidence from Incentivized Field Experiments in Niger," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205813, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea15:205813
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.205813
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Uri Gneezy & Jan Potters, 1997. "An Experiment on Risk Taking and Evaluation Periods," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 631-645.
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    3. Tahirou Abdoulaye & John H. Sanders, 2005. "Stages and determinants of fertilizer use in semiarid African agriculture: the Niger experience," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(2), pages 167-179, March.
    4. Bernd Hardeweg & Lukas Menkhoff & Hermann Waibel, 2013. "Experimentally Validated Survey Evidence on Individual Risk Attitudes in Rural Thailand," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 859-888.
    5. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rodgers, Aaron & Morgan, Kimberly L. & Harri, Ardian, 2017. "Technology Adoption and Risk Preferences: The Case of Machine Harvesting by Southeastern Blueberry Producers," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 48(2), July.

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    International Development; Risk and Uncertainty;

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