THE REALITY OF MARKET INEFFICIENCIES AND TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION NEXUS: EVIDENCE FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Abstract

Literature tells us that adoption of agricultural innovations mostly occurs when market conditions are right. Unfortunately for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), a wide variety of inefficiencies exists in the resource markets and constrained farmers from accessing resources for adoption of these innovations. Meanwhile, few studies have partially incorporated these inefficiencies in analysis of agricultural technology adoption. By way of contribution in filing this gap, this study analysed the role of a variety of inefficiencies in technology adoption in SSA. Specifically, the instrumental variable Poisson is employed on a unique dataset which comes from the SSAs intensification of food crops agriculture’s (Afrint) project and spans nine agrarian countries. The results indicate that the effects of market inefficiencies are mixed and location specific. Similar results are revealed by farmer/household, farm/plot and institutional characteristics. Further, the effects of spatial differentiation on adoption is presented and discussed.