Michigan State University Michigan State University

College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

  • About
  • News
  • Events
  • People
  • Undergraduate
  • Graduate
  • Projects
  • Centers & Services
  • Giving
  • Connect
  • Home
  • Projects

Demand and Supply Constraints to Improved Sorghum Technology Adoption and their Gender-Differentiate

Co-Principal Investigators

  • Maria Porter

    Assistant Professor
    mporter1@msu.edu
    517-355-2161

  • Melinda Smale

    Professor
    msmale@msu.edu
    703-231-8492

Non-AFRE Co-Principle Investigators: Drs. Isabelle Dabire and Adama Traore, National Agricultural and Environmental Research Institute, Ouagadougou

''This project is funded by the BASIS AMA CRSP (USAID resources) which is a research program on poverty, inequality and development, dedicated to understanding the poverty and income distribution dynamics of rural economies and to crafting creative policies and programs that broaden the base of economic growth and offer sustainable pathways from rural poverty. The project is also funded by The Gates Foundation.

This project focuses on the problem that supply and demand constraints reduce adoption of improved sorghum technology in the West African Sahel.  Accordingly, research will be undertaken with sorghum breeders and agro-input suppliers in Burkina Faso to compare alternative mechanisms to encourage adoption of improved seed and fertilizer micro-packs.  A demand side treatment will involve a randomized distribution of micro-packs targeted by social network characteristics. This randomized field experiment will enable us to understand the information effects of farmer take-up and spillovers due to one’s social network.  

A social network census will reveal the extent to which villagers insure one another against idiosyncratic risk specifically through exchange of seed, use of complementary inputs, intrahousehold labor substitution and assets.  The supply side of the randomized control trial will test whether consistent market supply, credit constraints or farmer commitment explain low adoption rates. We will also explore potential supply side marketing mechanisms for increasing adoption rates. Comparisons of the effects of demand and supply side interventions will inform the development of index insurance to insure farmers against risk.  The project will also examine the gender dimensions of adoption.  If technology adoption diverts women's labor from their fields to sorghum fields, the household's dietary diversity may decline. Women’s bargaining power within the household may also decrease. We will explore such effects by examining changes in household expenditure shares on goods women care about (e.g., food consumed at home, small livestock, and children’s and women’s clothing) and goods men generally consume (e.g., food consumed outside the home, large livestock and assets, tobacco, and spirits).

Implementation  Jun. 2013 - Dec. 2016.

View  BASIS AMA CRSP information on this project.

Projects

  • International Summer School Survey Design and Experimental Methods in Applied and Agricultural Economics

People

  • Faculty
  • Staff
  • Academic & Extension Specialists
  • Graduate Students

News

  • AFRE News
  • In the News
  • AFRE Voices
  • Faculty Stories
  • Student Stories

Prospective Students

  • About the Department
  • Prospective Undergraduate Information
  • Graduate Application Information

Resources

  • Campus Resources
  • follow us on youtube
  • follow us on twitter
  • follow us on facebook
  • follow us on instagram
  • follow us on linkedin
Michigan State University
  • Call Us: 517-355-4563
  • Contact Information
  • Sitemap
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Disclaimer
  • Call MSU: (517) 355-1855
  • Visit: msu.edu
  • MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer.
  • Notice of Nondiscrimination
  • Spartans Will.
  • © Michigan State University

MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer, committed to achieving excellence through a diverse workforce and inclusive culture that encourages all people to reach their full potential.

Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, age, height, weight, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, family status or veteran status. Issued in furtherance of MSU Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Quentin Tyler, Director, MSU Extension, East Lansing, MI 48824. This information is for educational purposes only. Reference to commercial products or trade names does not imply endorsement by MSU Extension or bias against those not mentioned.

The 4-H Name and Emblem have special protections from Congress, protected by code 18 USC 707.

We comply with the Federal Trade Commission 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Filter by content type
Michigan State University

College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

  • Home
  • Projects
  • Projects

  • International Summer School Survey Design and Experimental Methods in Applied and Agricultural Economics
  • share this on facebookShare
  • share this on twitterTweet
  • save to PinterestSave
  • share this on linkedinShare
  • print this pagePrint
  • Email this pageEmail