Abstract Despite their lauded promise of yield and resilience, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies are not widely used in sub-Saharan Africa. Even in areas that have adopted these technologies, many farmers stop using them after only a few years. We study this problem by investigating the role of weather shocks in the dynamics of the adoption and diffusion of Smart-valleys approach, a low-cost water and soil management technology for lowland rain-fed rice production. We use 4-year household survey panel data from the central region of Benin combined with village-level rainfall data. We apply a household fixed-effects model and find that rain shortfalls in the previous season contributed to the adoption of Smart-valleys, whereas surpluses in the previous season tended to reduce its disadoption. We find that one driver of this effect is agricultural labor. Policymakers could increase both the adoption and the retention of CSA technologies, such as Smart-valleys, by facilitating access to mechanized lowland preparation through affordable equipment and business models.
Arouna et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: