IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/idb/ovewps/1706.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Output Diversification Among Small-Scale Hillside Farmers In El Salvador

Author

Listed:
  • Boris Bravo

    (Office of International Affairs and Department Of Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut Storrs,CT,USA.)

  • Horacio Cocchi

    (Office of International Affairs, University of Connecticut, Storrs,CT,USA.)

  • Daniel Solís

    (Division of Marine Affairs and Polocy, Rosentiel School Of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami,Miami,FL,USA.)

Abstract

In this study we analyze the degree of output diversification (anything produced in the farm that is not a subsistence crop, i.e., corn or beans) among 520 hillside farmers in El Salvador. Half of those farmers have participated in the Environmental Program for El Salvador (PAES) implemented between 1998 and 2005. This study is an ex-post evaluation of PAES for which there was no baseline and no randomized control group. Therefore, quasi-experimental techniques were applied to select the treatment and comparison groups after the intervention occurred. Matching techniques were employed to construct a comparison group that resembles the treatment group based on observed characteristics while statistical controls were applied to measure differences on diversification for the treatment group at two points in time (2002 and 2005) and between the treatment and comparison groups at a given point in time (2005), allowing for before-after and with-without comparisons. Count regression models are used to econometrically estimate diversification, while Probit models evaluate factors associated with disadoption of a diversified cropping system over the 2002-2005 period. Overall, more diversified farm plans are positively associated with farm size, schooling, participation in communal organizations, and with the frequency of extension visits, which captures the PAES intervention. Also, farmers involved with PAES have significantly increased the number of agricultural activities in their farms between 2002 and 2005. The Probit model estimated to examine disadoption indicates that schooling, frequency of extension visits, erosion perception and participation in communal organizations are significant contributors to reducing the probability of disadoption of diversification. In turn, disadoption is significantly associated with farm size and land tenure.

Suggested Citation

  • Boris Bravo & Horacio Cocchi & Daniel Solís, 2006. "Output Diversification Among Small-Scale Hillside Farmers In El Salvador," OVE Working Papers 1706, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE).
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:ovewps:1706
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/WSDocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=912167&Cache=True
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S. R. Johnson, 1967. "A Re-examination of the Farm Diversification Problem," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 610-621.
    2. Mikael Lindahl & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1101-1136, December.
    3. Arellanes, Peter & Lee, David R., 2003. "The Determinants Of Adoption Of Sustainable Agriculture Technologies: Evidence From The Hillsides Of Honduras," 2003 Annual Meeting, August 16-22, 2003, Durban, South Africa 25826, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Allen Blackman & Arne Kildegaard, 2010. "Clean technological change in developing-country industrial clusters: Mexican leather tanning," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 12(3), pages 115-132, September.
    5. P. B. R. Hazell, 1971. "A Linear Alternative to Quadratic and Semivariance Programming for Farm Planning under Uncertainty: Reply," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 53(4), pages 664-665.
    6. Neill, Sean P & Lee, David R, 2001. "Explaining the Adoption and Disadoption of Sustainable Agriculture: The Case of Cover Crops in Northern Honduras," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(4), pages 793-820, July.
    7. Stanley M. Fletcher & Joseph V. Terza, 1986. "Analyzing Farmers Selection of Available Marketing Alternatives Using the Multivariate Probit Model," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 34(2), pages 243-252, July.
    8. Shujie Yao, 1997. "Comparative Advantages And Crop Diversification: A Policy Analysis Matrix For Thai Agriculture," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1‐3), pages 211-222, January.
    9. Wim Pelupessy, 1997. "The Limits of Economic Reform in El Salvador," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-37688-5, December.
    10. Boris Bravo & Horacio Cocchi & Daniel Solís, 2006. "Adoption of Soil Conservation Technologies in El Salvador: A cross-Section and Over-Time Analysis," OVE Working Papers 1806, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE).
    11. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 1998. "Estimating and Testing Linear Models with Multiple Structural Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(1), pages 47-78, January.
    12. Faria, Ana & Fenn, Paul & Bruce, Alistair, 2003. "A Count Data Model of Technology Adoption," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 63-79, January.
    13. Boris E. Bravo‐Ureta & Daniel Solís & Horacio Cocchi & Ricardo E. Quiroga, 2006. "The impact of soil conservation and output diversification on farm income in Central American hillside farming," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 35(3), pages 267-276, November.
    14. Ayal Kimhi & Ray Bollman, 1999. "Family farm dynamics in Canada and Israel: the case of farm exits," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 21(1), pages 69-79, August.
    15. Weiss, Christoph R. & Briglauer, Wolfgang, 2000. "Determinants and Dynamics of Farm Diversification," FE Working Papers 0002, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Food Economics and Consumption Studies.
    16. John G. Stovall, 1966. "Income Variation and Selection of Enterprises," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1575-1579.
    17. Bergeron, Gilles & Pender, John L., 1999. "Determinants of land use change: evidence from a community study in Honduras," EPTD discussion papers 46, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Earl O. Heady, 1952. "Diversification in Resource Allocation and Minimization of Income Variability," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 34(4), pages 482-496.
    19. Daniel Hellerstein & Robert Mendelsohn, 1993. "A Theoretical Foundation for Count Data Models," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(3), pages 604-611.
    20. Pingali, Prabhu L. & Rosegrant, Mark W., 1995. "Agricultural commercialization and diversification: processes and policies," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 171-185, June.
    21. Quiroz, Jorge A. & Valdes, Alberto, 1995. "Agricultural diversification and policy reform," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 245-255, June.
    22. Joyce T. Chen & C. B. Baker, 1974. "Marginal Risk Constraint Linear Program for Activity Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 56(3), pages 622-627.
    23. Glewwe, Paul, 1996. "The relevance of standard estimates of rates of return to schooling for education policy: A critical assessment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 267-290, December.
    24. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2003. "Halving Global Poverty," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 3-22, Summer.
    25. Lau, Lawrence J. & Jamison, Dean T. & Louat, Frederic F., 1991. "Education and productivity in developing countries : an aggregate production function approach," Policy Research Working Paper Series 612, The World Bank.
    26. Awudu Abdulai & Wallace E. Huffman, 2005. "The Diffusion of New Agricultural Technologies: The Case of Crossbred-Cow Technology in Tanzania," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(3), pages 645-659.
    27. P. B. R. Hazell, 1971. "A Linear Alternative to Quadratic and Semivariance Programming for Farm Planning under Uncertainty," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 53(1), pages 53-62.
    28. Bierens,Herman J., 2005. "Introduction to the Mathematical and Statistical Foundations of Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521834315, January.
    29. Michael R. Rahm & Wallace E. Huffman, 1984. "The Adoption of Reduced Tillage: The Role of Human Capital and Other Variables," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 66(4), pages 405-413.
    30. Rulon D. Pope & Richard Prescott, 1980. "Diversification in Relation to Farm Size and Other Socioeconomic Characteristics," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 62(3), pages 554-559.
    31. Ramírez, Octavio A. & Shultz, Steven D., 2000. "Poisson Count Models to Explain the Adoption of Agricultural and Natural Resource Management Technologies by Small Farmers in Central American Countries," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(1), pages 21-33, April.
    32. Boris E. Bravo-Ureta & Horacio Cocchi & Daniel Solís, 2006. "Adoption of Soil Conservation Technologies in El Salvador: A Cross-Section and Over-Time Analysis," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 24418, Inter-American Development Bank.
    33. Abdulai, Awudu & Huffman, Wallace, 2007. "The Diffusion of New Agricultural Technologies: The Case of Crossbreeding Technology in Tanzania," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12785, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    34. Capistrano, Ana Doris & Kiker, Clyde F., 1995. "Macro-scale economic influences on tropical forest depletion," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 21-29, July.
    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. Francisca Henriquez, 2009. "Microcrédito y su Impacto: Un Acercamiento con Datos Chilenos," OVE Working Papers 0309, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE).
    2. Jara-Rojas, Roberto & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Díaz, José, 2012. "Adoption of water conservation practices: A socioeconomic analysis of small-scale farmers in Central Chile," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 54-62.
    3. Veronica González & Pablo Ibarrarán & Alessandro Maffioli & Sandra Rozo, 2009. "The Impact of Technology Adoption on Agricultural Productivity: The Case of the Dominican Republic," OVE Working Papers 0509, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE).
    4. Kotchikpa Gabriel Lawin & Lota Tamini, 2019. "Determinants of Crop Diversification in Burkina Faso - What is the Impact of Risk Preference?," CIRANO Working Papers 2019s-07, CIRANO.

    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. Boris Bravo & Horacio Cocchi & Daniel Solís, 2006. "Adoption of Soil Conservation Technologies in El Salvador: A cross-Section and Over-Time Analysis," OVE Working Papers 1806, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE).
    2. Cocchi, Horacio & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Quiroga, Ricardo E., 2004. "Farm Benefits And Natural Resource Projects In Honduras And El Salvador," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20328, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    3. Miller, Matthew Edward, 2003. "An economic perspective on Iowa farm diversification in the twentieth century," ISU General Staff Papers 2003010108000018194, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    4. Sylvia, Gilbert & Tuininga, Chris & Larkin, Sherry L., 2003. "Portfolio Analysis for Optimal Seafood Product Diversification and Resource Management," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 1-20, August.
    5. Anderson, Jock R., 1975. "Programming For Efficient Planning Against Non-Normal Risk," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 19(2), pages 1-14, August.
    6. Carletto, Calogero & Kirk, Angeli & Winters, Paul C. & Davis, Benjamin, 2010. "Globalization and Smallholders: The Adoption, Diffusion, and Welfare Impact of Non-Traditional Export Crops in Guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 814-827, June.
    7. Erik J. O’Donoghue & Michael J. Roberts & Nigel Key, 2009. "Did the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act Alter Farm Enterprise Diversification?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 80-104, February.
    8. Jara-Rojas, Roberto & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Díaz, José, 2012. "Adoption of water conservation practices: A socioeconomic analysis of small-scale farmers in Central Chile," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 54-62.
    9. Mumey, G.A. & Bauer, L. & Boyda, A., 1988. "An Estimate of Risk and Returns From Cropping Alternatives," Project Report Series 232065, University of Alberta, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology.
    10. Turvey, Calum G. & Driver, H.C., 1985. "An Examination of Systematic Risks in Agriculture: A Farm Sector Capital Asset Pricing Model," 1985 Annual Meeting, August 4-7, Ames, Iowa 278553, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    11. Weiss, Christoph R. & Thiele, Holger D., 2002. "Diversifikation und Wachstum landwirtschaftlicher Unternehmen," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 51(03), pages 1-8.
    12. Koundouri, Phoebe & Nauges, Céline & Tzouvelekas, Vangelis, 2009. "The Effect of Production Uncertainty and Information Dissemination of the Diffusion of Irrigation Technologies," TSE Working Papers 09-032, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    13. Pannell, David J., 1988. "Modelling Risk in Linear Programming Using Direct Solution of Linearly Segmented Approximations of the Utility Function," Discussion Papers 315423, University of Western Australia, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    14. ERREYGERS, Guido & FEREDE, Tadele, 2009. "The end of subsistence farming: Growth dynamics and investments in human and environmental capital in rural Ethiopia," Working Papers 2009008, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    15. Ciaian, Pavel & Guri, Fatmir & Rajcaniova, Miroslava & Drabik, Dusan & Paloma, Sergio Gomez y, 2018. "Land fragmentation and production diversification: A case study from rural Albania," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 589-599.
    16. Kaaria, Susan Kawira, 1990. "Economic potential of high oil oats," ISU General Staff Papers 1990010108000017620, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    17. Lim, Krisha & Wichmann, Bruno & Luckert, Martin, 2021. "Adaptation, spatial effects, and targeting: Evidence from Africa and Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    18. Odendo, Martins & Obare, Gideon A. & Salasya, Beatrice, 2010. "Determinants of the Speed of Adoption of Soil Fertility-Enhancing Technologies in Western Kenya," 2010 AAAE Third Conference/AEASA 48th Conference, September 19-23, 2010, Cape Town, South Africa 96192, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    19. Weiss, Christoph R. & Briglauer, Wolfgang, 2000. "Determinants and Dynamics of Farm Diversification," FE Working Papers 0002, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Food Economics and Consumption Studies.
    20. Libbin, James D. & Johnson, Donald A. & Boehlje, Michael D. & Trede, Larry D., 1977. "A Risk-Return Analysis For The Midwest Farmer-Feeder," ISU General Staff Papers 197712010800001065, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    --;

    JEL classification:

    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

    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:idb:ovewps:1706. 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: Felipe Herrera Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iadbbus.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.