Resumen de Impacts of drought-tolerant maize varieties on productivity, risk, and resource use: Evidence from Uganda
Franklin Simtowe, Emily Amondo, Paswel Marenya, Dil Bahadur Rahut, Kai Sonder, Olaf Erenstein
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.
