Abstract
We use panel data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) administered among 1200 smallholders in Uganda to evaluate input use and food security impacts of an improved maize storage technology. After two seasons, households who received the technology were 10 percentage points more likely to plant hybrid maize varieties that are more susceptible to insect pests in storage than traditional lower-yielding varieties. Treated smallholders also stored maize for a longer period, reported a substantial drop in storage losses, and were less likely to use storage chemicals than untreated cohorts. Our results indicate that policies to promote soft kernel high-yielding hybrid maize varieties in sub-Saharan Africa should consider an improvement in post-harvest storage as a complementary intervention to increase adoption of these varieties.
Highlights
Many poverty alleviation and development programs implemented in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) focus on increasing agricultural production and smallholder productivity, frequently by encouraging smallholders to increase their use of improved seed varieties and chemical fertilizer (Evenson and Gollin, 2003; Pingali, 2012)
Results from our study indicate that households treated with the improved storage technology are 10 percentage points more likely to plant hybrid maize seed varieties the following year, consistent with observational findings reported by Ricker-Gilbert and Jones (2015) in Malawi
Thereafter, we present the main results on input use, examine whether the intervention changed storage behaviors and reported losses as speculated in our causal pathways, and perform robustness checks on the main results
Summary
Many poverty alleviation and development programs implemented in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) focus on increasing agricultural production and smallholder productivity, frequently by encouraging smallholders to increase their use of improved seed varieties and chemical fertilizer (Evenson and Gollin, 2003; Pingali, 2012). Issues relating to post-harvest losses have not been considered in studies that evaluate the adoption of improved inputs such as seed and inorganic fertilizer among smallholder farm households. Results from our study indicate that households treated with the improved storage technology are 10 percentage points more likely to plant hybrid maize seed varieties the following year (significant with pvalue
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