We use panel data from rural Ethiopia to investigate if participation in a safety net program enhances fertilizer adoption. Using a difference-in-difference estimator and inverse propensity score weighting we find that participation in Ethiopia’s food-for-work program increased fertilizer...

In this paper we use farmers' actual experiences with changes in rainfall levels and their responses to these changes to assess if patterns of fertilizer use are responsive to changes in rainfall patterns. Using plot and farm level panel data from the central Highlands of Ethiopia matched with...

There is a danger that the CDM will fail to live up to its goals, namely reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced sustainable development. Sustainability labeling is a promising strategy to hedge against such failures. Labels could also serve as a business risk-hedging tool. The...

The government of Zimbabwe launched the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in 2000 as part of its ongoing land reform and resettlement programme aimed at addressing a racially skewed land distribution. Its goal has been to accelerate both land acquisition and redistribution, targeting at...

This paper integrates soil science variables into an economic analysis of agricultural output among small-scale farmers in Kenya’s highlands. The integration is valuable because farmers’ choice of inputs depends on both the status of the soil and socio-economic conditions. The study uses a...

This study uses detailed household-level data to investigate income and activity diversification among households in rural Tanzania. Unlike previous research on diversification, I explicitly evalutate marginal returns within different activities, aiming to assess whether households are able to...

Sustainable agricultural practices, in as far as they rely on renewable local or farm resources, present desirable options for enhancing agricultural productivity for resource-constrained farmers in developing countries. In this paper, we used two sets of plot-level data—from a low-rainfall...

This study measures the impact of fanya juu bunds (an important soil and water conservation technology and the most popular type of contour bund in east Africa) on the value of crop production in a high-rainfall area in the Ethiopian highlands using cross-sectional multiple plot observations. We...

This paper investigates the impacts of market and institutional imperfections on technology adoption in a model that considers fertilizer use and soil conservation to be joint decisions. Controlling for plot characteristics and other factors, we found that a household’s decision to adopt...

Productivity gains from soil and water conservation (SWC) have empirical support in research stations. Previous empirical results from on-farm adoption of SWC are, however, varied. This study investigated the impact of soil conservation investment on farm productivity in three regions in Kenya....