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Seed market liberalization, hybrid maize adoption, and impacts on smallholder farmers in Tanzania

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  • Kathage, Jonas
  • Qaim, Matin
  • Kassie, Menale
  • Shiferaw, Bekele A.

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, liberalization of the seed market in Tanzania has attracted several foreign companies that now market maize hybrids in the country. In this article, we analyze the impacts of proprietary hybrids on maize yields, production, and household living standards. We build on a recent survey of smallholder maize farmers in two zones of Tanzania. Hybrid adoption rates are 48% and 13% in the North and East, respectively. Average net yield gains of hybrids are 50-60%, and there are also significant profit effects. Geographical disaggregation reveals that the benefits have mostly occurred in the North, which also explains higher adoption there. In the North, hybrid adoption caused a 17% increase in household living standards. We conclude that proprietary hybrids can be suitable for semi-subsistence farms and that seed market liberalization has generated positive socioeconomic developments.

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  • Kathage, Jonas & Qaim, Matin & Kassie, Menale & Shiferaw, Bekele A., 2012. "Seed market liberalization, hybrid maize adoption, and impacts on smallholder farmers in Tanzania," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 131756, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:gagfdp:131756
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.131756
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    Cited by:

    1. Emiliano Magrini & Mauro Vigani, 2016. "Technology adoption and the multiple dimensions of food security: the case of maize in Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(4), pages 707-726, August.
    2. Terrance Hurley & Jawoo Koo & Kindie Tesfaye, 2018. "Weather risk: how does it change the yield benefits of nitrogen fertilizer and improved maize varieties in sub‐Saharan Africa?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(6), pages 711-723, November.
    3. Nicholas Magnan & Abby M. Love & Fulgence J. Mishili & Ganna Sheremenko, 2020. "Husbands’ and wives’ risk preferences and improved maize adoption in Tanzania," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(5), pages 743-758, September.
    4. Jonas Kathage & Menale Kassie & Bekele Shiferaw & Matin Qaim, 2016. "Big Constraints or Small Returns? Explaining Nonadoption of Hybrid Maize in Tanzania," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 38(1), pages 113-131.
    5. Ye Jin & Qingning Lin & Shiping Mao, 2022. "Tanzanian Farmers’ Intention to Adopt Improved Maize Technology: Analyzing Influencing Factors Using SEM and fsQCA Methods," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-23, November.
    6. Mintewab Bezabih & Remidius Ruhinduka & Mare Sarr, 2016. "Climate change perception and system of rice intensification (SRI) impact on dispersion and downside risk: a moment approximation approach," GRI Working Papers 256, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    7. Barrett,Christopher B. & Sheahan,Megan Britney & Barrett,Christopher B. & Sheahan,Megan Britney, 2014. "Understanding the agricultural input landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa : recent plot, household, and community-level evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7014, The World Bank.
    8. Krishna, Vijesh V. & Veettil, Prakashan C., 2014. "Productivity and efficiency impacts of conservation tillage in northwest Indo-Gangetic Plains," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 126-138.

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    Keywords

    Industrial Organization; International Development; Production Economics; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services

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