Abstract
In developing countries, agricultural cooperatives are increasingly being used to promote improved agricultural technologies and alleviate food insecurity and poverty. However, little is known about the role of agricultural cooperatives in accelerating the adoption of improved agricultural technologies. Using a comprehensive balanced household panel and varietal data, this study applied the difference-in-difference model to identify factors affecting farmers’ decision to become cooperative members and the impact of cooperative membership on the adoption of improved maize, inorganic fertilizer and crop rotation. Furthermore, the study used the inverse probability weighted regression adjustment model to analyze the impact of cooperative membership on the speed of adoption of improved maize varieties. We found that cooperative membership increased the probability of technology adoption by 11–24 percentage points. Results further indicated that the average time to adoption was about 8 years, but it was shorter for cooperative members. The results showed that, on average, cooperative membership increased the speed of adoption of improved maize by 1.6–4.3 years. Generally, the results suggest the need for policies which promote farmer organizations such as cooperatives coupled with effective extension services for faster and greater adoption of improved technologies.
Highlights
In recent years, cooperatives are increasingly being viewed as a means to promote improved agricultural technologies and alleviate food insecurity and poverty
Because maize is the most important staple food in Zambia accounting for about 60% of the calorie intake (Dorosh et al, 2009), it is no surprise that the inputs that were initially considered in the Fertilizer Support Programme (FSP) programme were improved maize seed and fertilizer
The results indicate that education, livestock ownership, and access to credit were the important determinants of cooperative membership
Summary
Cooperatives are increasingly being viewed as a means to promote improved agricultural technologies and alleviate food insecurity and poverty. Cooperative membership tends to increase crop yields, household income, and household assets; and reduce transaction costs in accessing inputs and output markets (Abebaw and Haile, 2013; Ma and Abdulai, 2016; Mojo et al, 2017; Ortmann and King, 2007; Verhofstadt and Maertens, 2015). This is so because in most cases cooperatives are associated with collective action and social capital, are thought to be better placed in reducing poverty than other types of institutional innovations (Verhofstadt and Maertens, 2015). The Technological Forecasting & Social Change 158 (2020) 120160 impact of cooperatives on the rate and speed of adoption of agricultural technologies is not well understood in Zambia
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