Agriculture

Factor Market Failures and the Adoption of Irrigation in Rwanda

M. Jones, F. Kondylis, et al.

This research explores the adoption of new irrigation technologies in Rwanda, revealing that irrigation can enhance dry season horticultural production and significantly increase profits. Conducted by Maria Jones, Florence Kondylis, John Loeser, and Jeremy Magruder, the study also uncovers the constraints facing farmers and how labor market failures influence adoption among different household types.

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~3 min • Beginner • English

Index

Abstract

We examine constraints to adoption of new technologies in the context of hillside irrigation schemes in Rwanda. We leverage a plot-level spatial regression discontinuity design to produce 3 key results. First, irrigation enables dry season horticultural production, which boosts on-farm cash profits by 70%. Second, adoption is constrained: access to irrigation causes farmers to substitute labor and inputs away from their other plots. Eliminating this substitution would increase adoption by at least 21%. Third, this substitution is largest for smaller households and wealthier households. This result can be explained by labor market failures in a standard agricultural household model.

Publisher

NBER Working Paper Series

Published On

Jan 01, 2020

Authors

Maria Jones, Florence Kondylis, John Loeser, Jeremy Magruder

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20210059

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