Scaling-up agricultural technologies: who should be targeted?

The effects of agricultural technology adoption on farm performance have been studied extensively but with limited information on who should be targeted during scaling-up. We adopt the newly defined marginal treatment effect approach in examining how farmers' resource endowment and unobserved factors influence the marginal benefits of adopting sustainable intensification (SI) practices. We estimate both the marginal and average benefits of adopting SI practices and predict which marginal farm household entrants will benefit the most at scale. Findings indicate that farmers' resource endowment and unobserved factors affect the marginal benefits of adopting SI practices, which also influence maize yield and net returns among adopters. Finally, results imply that scaling up SI practices will favour farm household entrants associated with the lowest probability of adoption based on observed socioeconomic characteristics.

Automated summary

This study adopts the marginal treatment effect approach to examine how farmers' resource endowment and unobserved factors influence the marginal benefits of adopting sustainable intensification practices. The findings indicate that resource endowment and unobserved factors play a role in affecting the marginal benefits of adopting these practices, which in turn impact maize yield and net returns among adopters. The results suggest that scaling up sustainable intensification practices will benefit farm household entrants with the lowest probability of adoption based on observed socioeconomic characteristics.