Moral hazard is widely reported as a problem in credit and insurance markets, mainly arising from information asymmetry. Although theorists have attempted to explain the success of Joint Liability Lending (JLL) schemes in mitigating moral hazard, empirical studies are rare. This paper...

The NERICA (New Rice for Africa) rice varieties, developed by the Africa Rice Center during the 1990s, are providing hopes for raising the productivity of upland rice farmers in Africa because of their reported high yield potential and adaptability to the African conditions. The varieties are...

Groundnut is an important component of the national food supply. It does not only have nutritional and dietary value, groundnut also provides cash to farmers; enrich the soil with nitrogen through biological nitrogen fixation; and its haulms can be used as fodder and fuel. Groundnut production...

This paper applies a program evaluation technique to assess the causal effect of the adoption of improved groundnut technologies on consumption expenditure and poverty measured by headcount, poverty gap and poverty severity indices. The paper is based on a cross-sectional farm household level...

The overall objective of this paper is to assess the demand for improved groundnut, bean, and soybean seed in central Malawi. Specifically, it examines how smallholder farmers respond to changes in market prices of improved legume seed. It also assesses factors that affect the decision to...

We apply a program evaluation technique to data obtained from rural Kenya to assess the patterns of adoption of improved pigeonpea varieties. The sample adoption rate of improved pigeonpea is found to be 36% while potential adoption rate is estimated at 48%. The adoption gap resulting from the...

This study assessed the potential economic and poverty impact of 11 improved chickpea varieties released by the national agricultural research organization of Ethiopia in collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. The economic surplus model applied...

The overall objective of this paper is to assess the demand for improved groundnut, bean, and soybean seed in central Malawi. Specifically, it examines how smallholder farmers respond to changes in market prices of improved legume seed. It also assesses factors that affect the decision to...

The paper investigates the impact of credit constraints on the adoption of hybrid maize among rural households in Malawi using the treatment-effects model. Results reveal that after effectively correcting for endogeneity, credit constraints have a reducing effect on the size of land allocated to...

This study examines the relationship between agricultural technology adoption and poverty with a focus on New Rice varieties for Africa (NERICA). The NERICAs are a group of rice varieties developed by the Africa Rice Centre during the 1990s, resulting from the inter-specific crosses between the...