The impact of adaptation practices on crop productivity in northwest Ethiopia: an endogenous switching estimation

Abstract

Climate change and variability adversely affect smallholder farmers in developing countries, including Ethiopia. In response, farmers are adopting various adaptation strategies. However, there is a paucity of studies examining whether or not these responses benefit farmers in increasing crop productivity. Cognizant of this fact and its policy importance, this study empirically analyzes the impact of adaptation strategies on crop productivity in northwest Ethiopia. We collected data through household survey questionnaire, focus group discussion and key informant interview. We also analyzed time-series climate data to see how crop yield responds to climate variability. The empirical model employs the endogenous switching regression. Climate information and distance to market are validated as instrumental variables. The model revealed that farmers who adopted adaptation strategies would have gained lower yield if they had not adopted them; and those who did not adopt a strategy would have gained higher yield than if they had. Improved seed, contact with development agents (DAs), urea, compost and rainfall are significantly associated with the likelihood of increasing yield. The results also show systematic difference where age is inversely related with adapters and vice versa for non-adapters. Hence, adaptation interventions should consider these heterogeneities.

Large‐scale land investments, household displacement, and the effect on land degradation in semiarid agro‐pastoral areas of Ethiopia

“…The endogenous switching regression model (ESRM) accounts for observed and unobserved bias by estimating a simultaneous equation model (Lokshin & Sajaia, 2004). The ETRM is nested in ESRM and is widely applied in the analysis of the welfare impact of policies and technology adoption (Adebayo, Bolarin, Oyewale, & Kehinde, 2018; Adego, Simane, & Woldie, 2019; Adela & Aurbacher, 2018; Heckman, Tobias, & Vytlacil, 2003; Mekonnen, 2017). Other relevant studies have applied ESRM to analyse the effect of land‐use changes on water quality (Abildtrup, Garcia, & Kere, 2015), the effect of a large dam on agricultural production (Chen, Hsu, & Wang, 2018), the effect of climate exposure on afforestation (Oyekale & Oyekale, 2019), and the effect of forced displacement on income (Do Yun & Waldorf, 2016).…”

Climate resilience programmes and technical efficiency: evidence from the smallholder dairy farmers in the Brazilian semi-arid region

“…However, specific experiences have shown that adopting basic management practices may bring remarkable economic gains to family farmers facing yield-limiting factors (Adego et al, 2019;Onyeneke, 2020;Shahzad & Abdulai, 2020). In this context, climate resilience programmes have been formulated to help counteract the effects of climate change on vulnerable rural areas in the developing world.…”

Impact of Non-farm Activities on Wellbeing of Rural Household, the Case of Kersa District, Eastern Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

“…As study with [4] agricultural productivity remain stagnant in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, smallholder farmers in developing countries are affected by climate change and variability adversely [5]. As a result, farmers are taking up various altered copy strategies to reduce the vulnerability of farming output.…”