Low-Quality Seeds, Labor Supply, and Economic Returns: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bulte, Erwin; Di Falco, Savatore; Kassie, Menale; Vollenweider, Xavier
• 署名单位: Wageningen University & Research; University of Geneva; International Centre of Insect Physiology & Ecology (ICIPE)
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01285
• 发表日期: 2025-05
• 页码: 845-852
• 关键词: sub-saharan africa; technology adoption; farmers; IMPACT; decisions; maize

摘要

Low productivity in agriculture is a major cause of povertyand food insecurity in Africa. One explanation for low productivity is thewidespread presence of low-quality inputs on local markets (lemon tech-nologies), which causes uncertainty among farmers and erodes incentivesfor adoption. We report the results from a field experiment in Tanzania tostudy the impact of improved maize seeds in a context where we exoge-nously vary seed quality and uncertainty about seed type. The analysis isat the level of experimental plots owned and managed by farmers (not theentire farm). While improved seed positively affects harvests and reducesthe probability of crop failure among fully informed farmers, these benefitsare attenuated significantly when farmers are uncertain about the seed typethey receive. The main channel linking uncertainty to lower harvest lev-els is the reallocation of labor-a complementary input. The presence oflemon inputs on the market for modern inputs impedes learning about theprofitability of these inputs and increases the yield gap by slowing adoptionin subsequent periods