IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaae13/161474.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Smallholder Demand for Maize Hybrids and Selective Seed Subsidies in Zambia

Author

Listed:
  • Smale, Melinda
  • Birol, Ekin

Abstract

Zambian farmers have long experience with maize hybrids and input subsidies. The successful development and diffusion of improved maize seed in Zambia during the 1970s–80s was supported by government commitment to parastatal grain and seed marketing and subsidized provision of services to maize growers. When this system was dismantled under fiscal duress, production of the nation’s staple food—maize—declined. In 2002, concerned that national food security might be jeopardized, the government reinstated subsidies for fertilizers and maize seed with the stated goal of building the resource base of smallholders. We test the hypothesis that the subsidy on hybrid seed use in Zambia is selectively biased both by the delivery mechanism and through self-selection of farmers who choose to exercise their claim. We find that the subsidy is a recursive determinant of seed demand but its recipients have more land, more income, and lower poverty rates. In 2010, we estimate that 14% of smallholders had a high predicted demand for hybrid seed but did not grow it—and were not reached by the program. This paper contributes to an emerging body of literature that documents the effects of the new generation of “smart” input subsidies in Africa, with a focus on seed (as compared to fertilizer), and a detailed exploration of demand segments.

Suggested Citation

  • Smale, Melinda & Birol, Ekin, 2013. "Smallholder Demand for Maize Hybrids and Selective Seed Subsidies in Zambia," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161474, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaae13:161474
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.161474
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/161474/files/Melinda%20Smale%20and%20Ekin%20Birol.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.161474?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ayal Kimhi, 2006. "Plot size and maize productivity in Zambia: is there an inverse relationship?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 35(1), pages 1-9, July.
    2. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 69-85, Fall.
    3. Houssou, Nazaire & Zeller, Manfred, 2011. "To target or not to target? The costs, benefits, and impacts of indicator-based targeting," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 626-636, October.
    4. World Bank, 2010. "Zambia - Impact Assessment of the Fertilizer Support Program : Analysis of Effectiveness and Efficiency," World Bank Publications - Reports 2878, The World Bank Group.
    5. Pan, Lei & Christiaensen, Luc, 2012. "Who is Vouching for the Input Voucher? Decentralized Targeting and Elite Capture in Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1619-1633.
    6. Smith, Richard J & Blundell, Richard W, 1986. "An Exogeneity Test for a Simultaneous Equation Tobit Model with an Application to Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 679-685, May.
    7. Banful, Afua Branoah, 2011. "Old Problems in the New Solutions? Politically Motivated Allocation of Program Benefits and the "New" Fertilizer Subsidies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1166-1176, July.
    8. Mason, Nicole M. & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob, 2013. "Disrupting Demand for Commercial Seed: Input Subsidies in Malawi and Zambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 75-91.
    9. Kelly, Valerie A. & Crawford, Eric W. & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob, 2011. "The New Generation of African Fertilizer Subsidies: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?," Food Security International Development Policy Syntheses 107460, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    10. Joshua Angrist & Alan Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Working Papers 834, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    11. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-475, March.
    12. Burke, William J. & Jayne, Thomas S. & Sitko, Nicholas J., 2012. "Can the FISP More Effectively Achieve Food Production and Poverty Reduction Goals?," Food Security Collaborative Policy Briefs 123208, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    13. Minot, Nicholas & Benson, Todd, 2009. "Fertilizer subsidies in Africa: Are vouchers the answer?," Issue briefs 60, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Zhiying Xu & William J. Burke & Thomas S. Jayne & Jones Govereh, 2009. "Do input subsidy programs “crowd in” or “crowd out” commercial market development? Modeling fertilizer demand in a two‐channel marketing system," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(1), pages 79-94, January.
    15. Jacob Ricker-Gilbert & Thomas S. Jayne & Ephraim Chirwa, 2010. "Subsidies and Crowding Out: A Double-Hurdle Model of Fertilizer Demand in Malawi," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(1), pages 26-42.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Holden, Stein T., 2018. "The Economics of Fertilizer Subsidies," CLTS Working Papers 9/18, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 16 Oct 2019.
    2. Melinda Smale & Eliab Simpungwe & Ekin Birol & Girma Tesfahun Kassie & Hugo de Groote & Raphael Mutale, 2015. "The Changing Structure of the Maize Seed Industry in Zambia: Prospects for Orange Maize," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 132-146, January.
    3. Johnson, Nancy L. & Guedenet, Hannah & Saltzman, Amy, 2015. "What will it take for biofortification to have impact on the ground? Theories of change for three crop-country combinations:," IFPRI discussion papers 1427, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Smale, Melinda & Mason, Nicole M., 2013. "Hybrid Seed, Income, and Inequality among Smallholder Maize Farmers in Zambia," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 146929, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.

    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. Mason, Nicole M. & Jayne, T.S. & Mofya-Mukuka, Rhoda, 2013. "A Review of Zambia’s Agricultural Input Subsidy Programs: Targeting, Impacts, and the Way Forward," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 162438, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    2. Smale, Melinda & Mason, Nicole M., 2013. "Hybrid Seed, Income, and Inequality among Smallholder Maize Farmers in Zambia," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 146929, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    3. Dionne, Kim Yi & Horowitz, Jeremy, 2016. "The Political Effects of Agricultural Subsidies in Africa: Evidence from Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 215-226.
    4. Jayne, Thomas S. & Mason, Nicole M. & Burke, William J. & Ariga, Joshua, 2018. "Review: Taking stock of Africa’s second-generation agricultural input subsidy programs," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1-14.
    5. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda, 2012. "Targeted Subsidies and Private Market Participation: An Assessment of Fertilizer Demand in Nigeria:," IFPRI discussion papers 1194, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Nicole M. Mason & Thomas S. Jayne & Nicolas van de Walle, 2017. "The Political Economy of Fertilizer Subsidy Programs in Africa: Evidence from Zambia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(3), pages 705-731.
    7. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O., 2015. "Fertilizer subsidies, political influence and local food prices in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Nigeria," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 11-24.
    8. Tauchmann, Harald & Göhlmann, Silja & Requate, Till & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2007. "Tobacco and Alcohol: Complements or Substitutes? – A Structural Model Approach," Ruhr Economic Papers 34, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    9. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.
    10. Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool-Tasie, 2017. "Is fertiliser use inconsistent with expected profit maximization in sub-Saharan Africa? “Evidence from Nigeria”," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(1), pages 22-44, February.
    11. Fujimoto, Takefumi & Suzuki, Aya, 2021. "Do Fertilizer and Seed Subsidies Strengthen Farmers' Market Participation? the Impact of Tanzania NAIVS on Farmers' Purchase of Agricultural Inputs and Their Maize-Selling Activities," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315044, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Resnick, Danielle & Haggblade, Steven & Babu, Suresh & Hendriks, Sheryl L. & Mather, David, 2018. "The Kaleidoscope Model of policy change: Applications to food security policy in Zambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 101-120.
    13. Houssou, Nazaire & Andam, Kwaw S. & Collins, Asante-Addo, 2017. "Can better targeting improve the effectiveness of Ghana's Fertilizer Subsidy Program? Lessons from Ghana and other countries in Africa south of the Sahara," IFPRI discussion papers 1605, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Jongwoo Kim & Nicole M. Mason & David Mather & Felicia Wu, 2021. "The effects of the national agricultural input voucher scheme (NAIVS) on sustainable intensification of maize production in Tanzania," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 857-877, September.
    15. Nicole M. Mason & Thomas S. Jayne, 2014. "Fertiliser subsidies and smallholder commercial fertiliser purchases: crowding out, leakage, and policy implications for Zambia," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 527-528, June.
    16. Ton, Giel & Klerkx, Laurens & de Grip, Karin & Rau, Marie-Luise, 2015. "Innovation grants to smallholder farmers: Revisiting the key assumptions in the impact pathways," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 9-23.
    17. Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool-Tasie, 2014. "Fertilizer subsidies and private market participation: the case of Kano State, Nigeria," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(6), pages 663-678, November.
    18. Tauchmann, Harald & Lenz, Silja & Requate, Till & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2013. "Tobacco and alcohol: complements or substitutes?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 539-566.
    19. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda, 2012. "Did using input vouchers improve the distribution of subsidized fertilizer in Nigeria?: The case of Kano and Taraba states," IFPRI discussion papers 1231, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Mason, Nicole M. & Jayne, Thomas S. & Walle, Nicolas van de, 2013. "Fertilizer Subsidies and Voting Patterns: Political Economy Dimensions of Input Subsidy Programs," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 149580, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    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:aaae13:161474. 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/aaaeaea.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.