IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea05/19160.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Indian Farmers' Valuation of Crop Yield Distributions: Will poor farmers value 'pro-poor' seeds?

Author

Listed:
  • Lybbert, Travis J.

Abstract

Potential poverty traps among the rural poor suggest a need to reduce poor farmers' vulnerability by stabilizing crop yields and limiting yield losses. Advances in agricultural biotechnology enable breeders to address this need more directly than ever before with crops that reduce production risk by tolerating climate fluctuation or resisting biotic stresses. Will poor farmers who could benefit most from less vulnerability choose to purchase such risk-reducing seeds? I use data from a household survey and experiment involving farmers in India to infer their valuation of changes in the mean, variance, and skewness of yield distributions. I conclude that these farmers value increases in expected yield in the yield distribution but seem indifferent about changes in higher moments of the distribution. Farmer traits such as wealth and risk exposure affect farmers' valuation of changes in yield distributions only mildly.

Suggested Citation

  • Lybbert, Travis J., 2005. "Indian Farmers' Valuation of Crop Yield Distributions: Will poor farmers value 'pro-poor' seeds?," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19160, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea05:19160
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.19160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/19160/files/sp05ly01.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.19160?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. repec:pru:wpaper:6 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Foster, Andrew D & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1995. "Learning by Doing and Learning from Others: Human Capital and Technical Change in Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(6), pages 1176-1209, December.
    3. Edward Balistreri & Gary McClelland & Gregory Poe & William Schulze, 2001. "Can Hypothetical Questions Reveal True Values? A Laboratory Comparison of Dichotomous Choice and Open-Ended Contingent Values with Auction Values," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 18(3), pages 275-292, March.
    4. Carter, Michael R. & May, Julian, 1999. "Poverty, livelihood and class in rural South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-20, January.
    5. Robert Tripp & Suresh Pal, 2000. "Information and agricultural input markets: pearl millet seed in Rajasthan," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(1), pages 133-144.
    6. Barrett, Christopher B. & Bezuneh, Mesfin & Aboud, Abdillahi, 2001. "Income diversification, poverty traps and policy shocks in Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 367-384, August.
    7. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Pitt, Mark M & Sumodiningrat, Gunawan, 1991. "Risk, Schooling and the Choice of Seed Technology in Developing Countries: A Meta-Profit Function Approach," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 32(2), pages 457-473, May.
    9. Soniia David & Louise Sperling, 1999. "Improving technology delivery mechanisms: Lessons from bean seed systems research in eastern and central Africa," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(4), pages 381-388, December.
    10. Batz, F. -J. & Peters, K. J. & Janssen, W., 1999. "The influence of technology characteristics on the rate and speed of adoption," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 121-130, October.
    11. Travis J. Lybbert & Christopher B. Barrett & Solomon Desta & D. Layne Coppock, 2004. "Stochastic wealth dynamics and risk management among a poor population," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(498), pages 750-777, October.
    12. Tripp, Robert, 2001. "Can biotechnology reach the poor? The adequacy of information and seed delivery," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 249-264, June.
    13. Dercon, Stefan, 1998. "Wealth, risk and activity choice: cattle in Western Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-42, February.
    14. Feder, Gershon & Just, Richard E & Zilberman, David, 1985. "Adoption of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries: A Survey," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 255-298, January.
    15. Lybbert, Travis J. & Barrett, Christopher B. & Narjisse, Hamid, 2002. "Market-based conservation and local benefits: the case of argan oil in Morocco," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 125-144, April.
    16. Paul W. Heisey & John P. Brennan, 1991. "An Analytical Model of Farmers' Demand for Replacement Seed," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(4), pages 1044-1052.
    17. F.‐J. Batz & K.J. Peters & W. Janssen, 1999. "The influence of technology characteristics on the rate and speed of adoption," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 21(2), pages 121-130, October.
    18. Wood, Geof, 2003. "Staying Secure, Staying Poor: The "Faustian Bargain"," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 455-471, March.
    19. Lisa A. Cameron, 1999. "The Importance of Learning in the Adoption of High-Yielding Variety Seeds," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(1), pages 83-94.
    20. Adesina, Akinwumi A. & Baidu-Forson, Jojo, 1995. "Farmers' perceptions and adoption of new agricultural technology: evidence from analysis in Burkina Faso and Guinea, West Africa," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, October.
    21. Holloway, Garth & Nicholson, Charles & Delgado, Chris & Staal, Steve & Ehui, Simeon, 2000. "Agroindustrialization through institutional innovation: Transaction costs, cooperatives and milk-market development in the east-African highlands," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 279-288, September.
    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. Lybbert, Travis J., 2006. "Indian farmers' valuation of yield distributions: Will poor farmers value `pro-poor' seeds?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 415-441, October.
    2. Lidia Dandedjrohoun & Aliou Diagne & Gauthier Biaou & Simon N’cho & Soul-Kifouly Midingoyi, 2012. "Determinants of diffusion and adoption of improved technology for rice parboiling in Benin," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 93(2), pages 171-191.
    3. Guizar-Mateos, Isai & Miranda, Mario J. & Gonzalez-Vega, Claudio, 2013. "The Role of Credit and Deposits in the Dynamics of Technology Decisions and Poverty Traps," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 149860, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Wubeneh, Nega Gebreselassie & Sanders, J.H., 2006. "Farm-level adoption of sorghum technologies in Tigray, Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 122-134, November.
    5. Ismail Moumouni & Mohamed N. Baco & Latifou Idrissou, 2019. "Towards a Re-Conceptualization of the Pathway of Agricultural Technology for a Better Impact Assessment," International Journal of Publication and Social Studies, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 4(2), pages 123-131, June.
    6. Michelson, Hope & Fairbairn, Anna & Ellison, Brenna & Maertens, Annemie & Manyong, Victor, 2021. "Misperceived quality: Fertilizer in Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    7. Yoo, Do-il, 2012. "Individual and Social Learning in Bio-technology Adoption: The Case of GM Corn in the U.S," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124975, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Varshney, Deepak & Joshi, P.K. & Roy, Devesh & Kumar, Anjani, 2021. "Understanding the Adoption of Modern Cultivars in India: Adoption probability and use intensity," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 47(1), January.
    9. Sidibe, Amadou, 2005. "Farm-level adoption of soil and water conservation techniques in northern Burkina Faso," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 211-224, February.
    10. Madan M. Dey & Ferdinand J. Paraguas & Patrick Kambewa & Diemuth E. Pemsl, 2010. "The impact of integrated aquaculture–agriculture on small‐scale farms in Southern Malawi," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(1), pages 67-79, January.
    11. Lidia Dandedjrohoun & Aliou Diagne & Gauthier Biaou & Simon N'Cho & Soul-Kifouly Midingoyi, 2012. "Determinants of diffusion and adoption of improved technology for rice parboiling in Benin," Post-Print hal-00939350, HAL.
    12. Dandedjrohoun, Lidia & Diagne, Aliou & Biaou, Gauthier & N'Cho, Simon & Midingoyi, Soul-Kifouly, 2012. "Determinants of diffusion and adoption of improved technology for rice parboiling in Benin," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement (RAEStud), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 93(2).
    13. Jean‐Paul Chavas & Céline Nauges, 2020. "Uncertainty, Learning, and Technology Adoption in Agriculture," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(1), pages 42-53, March.
    14. Mansaray, B. & Jin, S. & Yuan, R. & Li, H., 2018. "Farmers Preferences for Attributes of Seed Rice in Sierra Leone: A Best-Worst Scaling Approach," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277552, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Christopher B. Barrett & Christine M. Moser & Oloro V. McHugh & Joeli Barison, 2004. "Better Technology, Better Plots, or Better Farmers? Identifying Changes in Productivity and Risk among Malagasy Rice Farmers," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(4), pages 869-888.
    16. Akoko, Peter Obuon & Gathungu, Edith & De Groote, Hugo, 2024. "Evaluating Smallholder Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Maize Dryers in Njoro Sub-County, Nakuru, Kenya," IAAE 2024 Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India 344279, International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).
    17. Sommarat Chantarat & Christopher Barrett, 2012. "Social network capital, economic mobility and poverty traps," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(3), pages 299-342, September.
    18. Christopher B. Barrett, 2005. "Rural poverty dynamics: development policy implications," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 45-60, January.
    19. Barrera, Victor & Norton, George W. & Alwang, Jeffrey Roger & Mauceri, Maria, 2005. "Adoption of Integrated Pest Management Technologies: A Case Study of Potato Farmers in Carchi, Ecuador," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19400, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. Christopher B. Barrett & John G. McPeak, 2006. "Poverty Traps and Safety Nets," Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion, and Well-Being, in: Alain Janvry & Ravi Kanbur (ed.), Poverty, Inequality and Development, chapter 0, pages 131-154, Springer.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Farm Management;

    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:aaea05:19160. 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/aaeaaea.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.