IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/agreko/348234.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of crop abandonment by smallholder maize farmers in Zambia

Author

Listed:
  • Chekenya, Nixon S.
  • Yenibehit, Nanii
  • Dzingirai, Canicio

Abstract

Crop abandonment is when farmers decide not to harvest their previously planted crop. There is limited but emerging literature on crop abandonment or failure predominantly examining weather and crop failure rates. Consistent with these existing scant studies, it is not immediately clear to what extent historical relationships can be extrapolated in the long run under climate change. This paper seeks to improve our understanding of determinants of crop abandonment decisions in Zambia for maize production at subnational level. We find that crop abandonment (harvesting) is positively (negatively) related to fertiliser use, rainfall and temperature and negatively (positively) related to cost of living, price of maize, index-based insurance cover, town and random shocks. Therefore, fertiliser, rainfall and temperature increase the likelihood of crop abandonment in Zambia whereas increasing cost of living, maize price, insurance participation, town specific and random shock reduce it.

Suggested Citation

  • Chekenya, Nixon S. & Yenibehit, Nanii & Dzingirai, Canicio, 2024. "Determinants of crop abandonment by smallholder maize farmers in Zambia," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 63(3), September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:agreko:348234
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.348234
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/348234/files/Determinants%20of%20crop%20abandonment%20by%20smallholder%20maize%20farmers%20in%20Zambia.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.348234?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert G. Chambers & John Quiggin, 2002. "Optimal Producer Behavior in the Presence of Area-Yield Crop Insurance," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(2), pages 320-334.
    2. Xiaomeng Cui, 2020. "Beyond Yield Response: Weather Shocks and Crop Abandonment," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(5), pages 901-932.
    3. Liu, Ziheng & Lu, Qinan, 2023. "Ozone stress and crop harvesting failure: Evidence from US food production," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. Milu Muyanga & T S Jayne, 2019. "Revisiting the Farm Size-Productivity Relationship Based on a Relatively Wide Range of Farm Sizes: Evidence from Kenya," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1140-1163.
    5. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    6. Francis Annan & Wolfram Schlenker, 2015. "Federal Crop Insurance and the Disincentive to Adapt to Extreme Heat," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 262-266, May.
    7. Smale, Melinda & Moursi, Mourad & Birol, Ekin, 2015. "How does adopting hybrid maize affect dietary diversity on family farms? Micro-evidence from Zambia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 44-53.
    8. Chekenya, Nixon S., 2023. "Climate-induced crop failure and crop abandonment: What do we know and not know?," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 18(2), October.
    9. Hausman, Jerry A & Taylor, William E, 1981. "Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1377-1398, November.
    10. Mario J. Miranda & Katie Farrin, 2012. "Index Insurance for Developing Countries," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 34(3), pages 391-427.
    11. Mookerjee, Agrotosh & Clarke, Daniel & Grenham, Dermot & Sharpe, James & Stein, Daniel, 2014. "Crop microinsurance: tackling poverty, one insurance policy at a time," Annals of Actuarial Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 253-280, September.
    12. Marshall Burke & Kyle Emerick, 2016. "Adaptation to Climate Change: Evidence from US Agriculture," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 106-140, August.
    13. Papke, Leslie E & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 1996. "Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401(K) Plan Participation Rates," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 619-632, Nov.-Dec..
    14. Lowder, Sarah K. & Sánchez, Marco V. & Bertini, Raffaele, 2021. "Which farms feed the world and has farmland become more concentrated?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chekenya, Nixon S., 2023. "Climate-induced crop failure and crop abandonment: What do we know and not know?," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 18(2), October.
    2. Cui, Xiaomeng & Tang, Qu, 2024. "Extreme heat and rural household adaptation: Evidence from Northeast China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Liu, Ziheng & Lu, Qinan, 2023. "Ozone stress and crop harvesting failure: Evidence from US food production," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, 2021. "Climate, Agriculture and Food," Papers 2105.12044, arXiv.org.
    5. Liu, Ziheng & Lu, Qinan, 2024. "Carbon dioxide fertilization, carbon neutrality, and food security," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    6. Lé Mathias, 2022. "The adaptation of economies to climate change: lessons from the economic research [L’adaptation des économies au changement climatique : les enseignements tirés de la recherche économique]," Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 239.
    7. Daniel Cooley & Steven M. Smith, 2022. "Center Pivot Irrigation Systems as a Form of Drought Risk Mitigation in Humid Regions," NBER Chapters, in: American Agriculture, Water Resources, and Climate Change, pages 135-171, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Hsing-Hsiang Huang & Michael R. Moore, 2018. "Farming under Weather Risk: Adaptation, Moral Hazard, and Selection on Moral Hazard," NBER Chapters, in: Agricultural Productivity and Producer Behavior, pages 77-124, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Yu, Jisang & Villoria, Nelson B. & Hendricks, Nathan P., 2019. "The Incidence of Foreign Market Accessibility on Farmland Rental Rates," 2019: Recent Advances in Applied General Equilibrium Modeling: Relevance and Application to Agricultural Trade Analysis, December 8-10, 2019, Washington, DC 339333, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    10. Demissie, Birhan S. & Kasie, Tesfahun A. & Upton, Joanna B. & Blom, Sylvia A., 2021. "Climate Shocks And Resilience: Evidence From Rural Ethiopia," PRCI Research Papers 320707, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Food Security Group.
    11. Xiaomeng Cui & Wei Xie, 2022. "Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change through Growing Season Adjustments: Evidence from Corn in China," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(1), pages 249-272, January.
    12. Quentin Stoeffler & Michael Carter & Catherine Guirkinger & Wouter Gelade, 2022. "The Spillover Impact of Index Insurance on Agricultural Investment by Cotton Farmers in Burkina Faso," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 114-140.
    13. Arbex, Marcelo & Batu, Michael, 2020. "What if people value nature? Climate change and welfare costs," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    14. Fernando M. Aragón & Francisco Oteiza & Juan Pablo Rud, 2018. "Climate change and agriculture: farmer adaptation to extreme heat," IFS Working Papers W18/06, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    15. Zhang, Jingfang & Malikov, Emir & Miao, Ruiqing & Ghosh, Prasenjit N., 2024. "Geography of Climate Change Adaptation in U.S. Agriculture: Evidence from Spatially Varying Long-Differences Approach," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343758, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Rainer Schweickert & Inna Melnykovska & Ansgar Belke & Ingo Bordon, 2011. "Prospective NATO or EU membership and institutional change in transition countries," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 19(4), pages 667-692, October.
    17. Badi H. Baltagi & Georges Bresson & Anoop Chaturvedi & Guy Lacroix, 2022. "Robust Dynamic Space-Time Panel Data Models Using ε-contamination: An Application to Crop Yields and Climate Change," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 254, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    18. Vânia G. Silva & Esmeralda A. Ramalho & Carlos R. Vieira, 2017. "The Use of Cheques in the European Union: A Cross-Country Analysis," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 581-602, July.
    19. Cui, Xiaomeng & Gafarov, Bulat & Ghanem, Dalia & Kuffner, Todd, 2024. "On model selection criteria for climate change impact studies," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 239(1).
    20. Kan, Iddo & Reznik, Ami & Kaminski, Jonathan & Kimhi, Ayal, 2023. "The impacts of climate change on cropland allocation, crop production, output prices and social welfare in Israel: A structural econometric framework," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crop Production/Industries;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:agreko:348234. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeasaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.