Impacts of drought-tolerant maize varieties on productivity, risk, and resource use: Evidence from Uganda

Franklin Simtowe ; Emily Amondo ^[1] ; Paswel Marenya ; Dil Bahadur Rahut ; Kai Sonder ; Olaf Erenstein
1. [1] University of Bonn
  
  University of Bonn
  
  Kreisfreie Stadt Bonn, Alemania
Localización: Land use policy: The International Journal Covering All Aspects of Land Use, ISSN 0264-8377, ISSN-e 1873-5754, Nº. 88, 2019
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- Weather variability is an important source of production risk for rainfed agriculture in developing countries. This paper evaluates the impacts of the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties on average maize yield, yield stability, risk exposure and resource use in rainfed smallholder maize farming. The study uses cross-sectional farm household-level data, collected from a sample of 840 farm households in Uganda. The adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties increased yield by 15% and reduced the probability of crop failure by 30%. We further show that the adoption of these varieties increased investments in maize production at the extensive margin through maize area increase and to a more limited extent at the intensive margin through mechanization. The findings show promise for further uptake and scaling of drought-tolerant maize varieties for increased productivity, reduced risk, and the transformation of the maize sector.