Resource saving and productivity enhancing impacts of crop management innovation packages in Ethiopia

Abstract

Crop management innovations are often not discrete fixed stand-alone options—and their adoption may imply various combinations and adaptations. This potentially confounds their impact assessment. This article assesses the resource saving and productivity enhancing impacts of a crop management package revolving around minimum tillage in maize-based farming systems in northwest Ethiopia. An endogenous switching regression model was applied to plot- and household-level survey data collected from 290 rural households operating 590 maize plots during the 2012 production year. Controlling for variations in plot and household characteristics, the average effect of minimum tillage package (minimum tillage package) on maize productivity is 0.44 t/ha. Compared to conventional practice (CP), adoption of the MTP decreased the average male and female labor use in maize production by 14.4 and 8.2 person-days per ha, respectively. Similarly, MTP adoption decreased draft power use for land preparation by 13.2 pair of oxen-days per ha. Compared to CP, in general, there is a considerable short-run maize productivity gain and reduction in labor and draft power use under MTP. © 2016 International Association of Agricultural Economists