Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and advanced research instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversidade NOVA de Lisboaen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationWageningen University & Researchen
cg.contributor.crpPolicies, Institutions, and Markets
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden
cg.contributor.donorNetherlands Organisation for Scientific Researchen
cg.contributor.donorFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Aga Khan Development Networken
cg.contributor.initiativeSeed Equal
cg.contributor.initiativeMarket Intelligence
cg.contributor.programAcceleratorBreeding for Tomorrow
cg.coverage.countryUganda
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2UG
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.creator.identifierDavid J. Spielman: 0000-0002-6889-7358en
cg.creator.identifierBjorn Van Campenhout: 0000-0003-2404-7826en
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1086/735822en
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Innovation Policy and Scaling Uniten
cg.identifier.publicationRankAen
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn0013-0079en
cg.journalEconomic Development and Cultural Changeen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.subject.actionAreaGenetic Innovation
cg.subject.impactAreaPoverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs
cg.subject.impactAreaGender equality, youth and social inclusion
dc.contributor.authorMiehe, Carolineen
dc.contributor.authorNabwire, Leocardiaen
dc.contributor.authorSparrow, Roberten
dc.contributor.authorSpielman, David J.en
dc.contributor.authorVan Campenhout, Bjornen
dc.date.accessioned2025-03-20T14:59:04Zen
dc.date.available2025-03-20T14:59:04Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/173759
dc.titleMiracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoptionen
dcterms.abstractTo fully benefit from new agricultural technologies like improved seed varieties, significant investment in complementary inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, and practices such as systematic planting, irrigation, and weeding are also required. Farmers may fail to recognize the importance of these complements, leading to disappointing crop yields and outputs and, eventually, dis-adoption of the improved variety. Using a field experiment, we test an information intervention among smallholder maize farmers in eastern Uganda that points out these complementarities. We find that farmers adopt less after they have been sensitized about the need to use complementary inputs to unlock the adoption premium. We rationalize this finding with a simple theoretical model where farmers have mis-specified mental models of the technology production function and conclude that most farmers in our sample do indeed believe in miracle seeds.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.audienceScientistsen
dcterms.available2025-03-13en
dcterms.bibliographicCitationMiehe, Caroline; Nabwire, Leocardia; Sparrow, Robert; Spielman, David J.; and Van Campenhout, Bjorn. Miracle seeds: Biased expectations, complementary input use, and the dynamics of smallholder technology adoption. Economic Development and Cultural Change. Article in press. First available online March 13, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1086/735822en
dcterms.issued2025en
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCopyrighted; all rights reserved
dcterms.publisherUniversity of Chicago Pressen
dcterms.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/142345en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1002/ajae.12089en
dcterms.subjectagricultural technologyen
dcterms.subjectfertilizersen
dcterms.subjectpesticidesen
dcterms.subjectseed systemsen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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