The Case of Uganda: Long-Term and Spillover Effects of Rice Production Training

Using the case of rice production training in the rainfed lowlands of Eastern Uganda, this chapter examines the extent to which training continues to enhance participants’ technology adoption and productivity five years after the provision of training and the extent to which the training effect spills over to non-training participants. Rice production data was collected from training participants and non-participants in program villages and rice farmers in non-program villages one year before and one year and five years after the training. According to descriptive statistics, the gap in the average rice yield between the training participants and non-participants within a program village opens up right after the training, but it disappears in the long term. To identify program and spillover effects, propensity score matching and difference-in-differences method were used (PSM–DID). This study finds that training enhanced adoption rates for improved cultivation practices not only in the short term but also long term, while rice yield increased only in the long term. Although the adoption rate of improved cultivation practices did not increase among non-participants in training villages relative to their counterparts in non-program villages, rice yield increased after five years, which suggests signs of spillover within training villages in the long term.