The impact of agricultural extension and input subsidies on knowledge, input use and food security in Eastern DRC
This paper assesses the effectiveness of 2 policy tools: agricultural extension and input subsidization programmes
Abstract
Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa face acute constraints to productivity due to poor output price incentives, high input prices, lack of liquidity, knowledge and credit access. So far, two primary tools have been adopted to raise smallholder incomes and improve food security: agricultural extension and input subsidization programs.
This paper assesses the effectiveness of these two agricultural policy tools. In particular we focus on the existence of potential synergistic benefits of using both tools simultaneously for multi-constraint targeting. Using a Quasi-experimental Diff in Diff estimation, we found little evidence for synergistic benefits in our study sample. While there is a positive impact of the extension treatment in terms of knowledge, yields and food security, the addition of the subsidy treatment do not generate sufficient extra gains to outweigh its high implementation costs. Our spillover and heterogeneous analysis reveal that in control villages that are close to treatment villages, knowledge of inputs use increased. Furthermore, we find that project impacts vary by household characteristics such as proximity to markets, soil quality of plots owned and willingness to learn about new technologies. These findings suggest that NGOs seeking to implement an extension scheme should focus on geographic breadth, rather than depth.
This is part of the ‘Which farmer(s) should we target? How do extension approaches influence social learning and spread of agricultural innovations?’ project
Citation
Elise Wang Sonne, Koen Leuveld, Eleonora Nillesen, Janneke Pieters, Martha Ross, Maarten Voors (2016) The impact of agricultural extension and input subsidies on knowledge, input use and food security in Eastern DRC