IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/cmpart/334745.html

The impact of conservation agriculture adoption on farmer welfare: a comparative assessment of Kenya and Tanzani

Author

Listed:
  • Mpande, Brian

Abstract

This paper used propensity score matching (PSM) technique and pooled cross-sectional data from 407 observations with 256 conservation agriculture (CA) adopters and 151 non-adopters from Kenya and Tanzania, to test whether CA causally improves smallholder farmer’s welfare. We find mixed results showing that CA has a statistically significant and positive impact on climate change adaptation, drought resilience, total maize production, food security, number of meals per day, household income, accumulation of productive assets, reduction of gender inequalities, improving social cohesion, reduced forest area cleared and soil health improvement. CA has a negative and statistically significant impact on total agricultural yield, agricultural production costs, and number of food insecure months, CA has no impact on addressing agricultural calendar bottlenecks. Since the cross-country analysis showed higher CA adoption rates in Tanzania relative to Kenya, policy could increase adoption rates in the latter by focussing on the less educated farmers, increasing access to input markets, demonstrating benefits from CA projects, and improving farmer mastery of CA technologies. The findings shed light on the role of sustainable agricultural practices and highlight cross-country experiences of CA technologies in improving the welfare of smallholder farmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Mpande, Brian, 2021. "The impact of conservation agriculture adoption on farmer welfare: a comparative assessment of Kenya and Tanzani," Research Theses 334745, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:cmpart:334745
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.334745
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/334745/files/Dissertation_Mpande%20B.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.334745?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. Julius Manda & Arega D. Alene & Cornelis Gardebroek & Menale Kassie & Gelson Tembo, 2016. "Adoption and Impacts of Sustainable Agricultural Practices on Maize Yields and Incomes: Evidence from Rural Zambia," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 130-153, February.
    2. Tambo, Justice A. & Mockshell, Jonathan, 2018. "Differential Impacts of Conservation Agriculture Technology Options on Household Income in Sub-Saharan Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 95-105.
    3. Kuntashula, Elias & Mungatana, Eric, 2015. "Estimating the causal effect of improved fallows on environmental services provision under farmers' field conditions in Chongwe, Zambia," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 80-100, February.
    4. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    5. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2016. "Matching on the Estimated Propensity Score," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 781-807, March.
    6. 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.
    7. Jumbe, Charles Blessings Laurence & Nyambose, Wanangwa Hawire, 2016. "Does Conservation Agriculture Enhance Household Food Security? Evidence from Smallholder Farmers in Nkhotakota in Malawi," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 5(01).
    8. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra Todd, 1998. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(2), pages 261-294.
    9. Paswel P. Marenya & Menale Kassie & Moti Jaleta & Dil Bahadur Rahut & Olaf Erenstein, 2017. "Predicting minimum tillage adoption among smallholder farmers using micro-level and policy variables," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-22, December.
    10. Tambo, J. & Mockshell, J., 2018. "Differential impacts of conservation agriculture technology options on household welfare in sub-Saharan Africa," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277035, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    12. Khonje, Makaiko & Manda, Julius & Alene, Arega D. & Kassie, Menale, 2015. "Analysis of Adoption and Impacts of Improved Maize Varieties in Eastern Zambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 695-706.
    13. John Pender & Berhanu Gebremedhin, 2008. "Determinants of Agricultural and Land Management Practices and Impacts on Crop Production and Household Income in the Highlands of Tigray, Ethiopia," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 17(3), pages 395-450, June.
    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. Abdul-Hanan Abdallah & Awal Abdul-Rahaman & Gazali Issahaku, 2021. "Sustainable agricultural practices, farm income and food security among rural households in Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(12), pages 17668-17701, December.
    2. Fissha Asmare & Jūratė Jaraitė & Andrius Kažukauskas, 2022. "Climate change adaptation and productive efficiency of subsistence farming: A bias‐corrected panel data stochastic frontier approach," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(3), pages 739-760, September.
    3. Kapoor, Shreya & Pal, Barun Deb, 2024. "Impact of adoption of climate smart agriculture practices on farmer's income in semi-arid regions of Karnataka," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    4. Manda, Julius & Khonje, Makaiko G. & Alene, Arega D. & Gondwe, Therese, 2017. "Welfare impacts of improved groundnut varieties in eastern Zambia: A heterogeneous treatment effects approach," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 56(4), December.
    5. Olayinka Oyekola & Olapeju C. Ogunmokun & Martha A. Omolo & Samuel Odewunmi, 2023. "Gender, Legal Origin, and Accounting Disclosure: Evidence from More Than 140,000 Firms," Discussion Papers 2313, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    6. Zeeshan Ahmed & Dongwei Gui & Ghulam Murtaza & Liu Yunfei, 2025. "From scarcity to sustainability: agriculture intensification for food security and climate resilience in drylands," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 30(8), pages 1-64, December.
    7. Marenya, Paswel P. & Gebremariam, Gebrelibanos & Jaleta, Moti & Rahut, Dil B., 2020. "Sustainable intensification among smallholder maize farmers in Ethiopia: Adoption and impacts under rainfall and unobserved heterogeneity," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    8. Junpeng Li & Puneet Vatsa & Wanglin Ma & Phong Quoc Luu, 2025. "Promoting sustainable agri‐food production to achieve food and nutrition security: The role of soil conservation practices," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 69(1), pages 59-79, January.
    9. Kodjo Adandohoin & Vigninou Gammadigbe, 2022. "The revenue efficiency consequences of the announcement of a tax transition reform: The case of WAEMU countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(S1), pages 195-218, July.
    10. Boscow Okumu & Herbert Ntuli & Edwin Muchapondwa & Gibson Mudiriza & Alfred Mukong, 2022. "Does the uptake of multiple climate smart agriculture practices enhance household savings, food security and household vulnerability to climate change? Insights from Zimbabwe," ERSA Working Paper Series 44, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    11. Balaine, Lorraine & Dillon, Emma J. & Läpple, Doris & Lynch, John, 2020. "Can technology help achieve sustainable intensification? Evidence from milk recording on Irish dairy farms," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    12. Gebremariam, Gebrelibanos & Tesfaye, Wondimagegn, 2018. "The heterogeneous effect of shocks on agricultural innovations adoption: Microeconometric evidence from rural Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 154-161.
    13. Adane Hirpa Tufa & Arega D. Alene & Julius Manda & Shiferaw Feleke & Tesfamichael Wossen & M. G. Akinwale & David Chikoye & Victor Manyong, 2021. "The poverty impacts of improved soybean technologies in Malawi," Agrekon, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(3), pages 297-316, July.
    14. Thanh Tam Ho & Koji Shimada, 2019. "The Effects of Climate Smart Agriculture and Climate Change Adaptation on the Technical Efficiency of Rice Farming—An Empirical Study in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-20, May.
    15. Martey, Edward & Etwire, Prince M. & Mockshell, Jonathan, 2021. "Climate-smart cowpea adoption and welfare effects of comprehensive agricultural training programs," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Sankhulani, Linda, 2021. "Impact evaluation of conservation agriculture on smallholder farmers’ livelihood in Zambia and Tanzania," Research Theses 334762, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    17. 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.
    18. Aslihan Arslan & Kristin Floress & Christine Lamanna & Leslie Lipper & Solomon Asfaw & Todd Rosenstock, "undated". "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 63 - The adoption of improved agricultural technologies - A meta-analysis for Africa," IFAD Research Series 304758, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    19. Daniel Kandie & Khan Jahirul Islam, 2022. "A new era of microfinance: The digital microcredit and its impact on poverty," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 469-492, April.
    20. Julius Manda & Cornelis Gardebroek & Makaiko Khonje & Arega Alene & Munyaradzi Mutenje & Menale Kassie, 2016. "Determinants of child nutritional status in the eastern province of Zambia: the role of improved maize varieties," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 239-253, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    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:cmpart:334745. 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: http://www.agriculturaleconomics.net .

    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.