Effect of irrigation adoption on rice yield in the municipality of Malanville, Benin

Abstract

The paper employed a Heckman selectivity model to determine factors influencing the adoption of irrigation and its effect on rice yield in Benin. Results from probit estimates indicate that farmer’s age, gender, extension services, access to credit, market participation, distance to irrigation scheme, use of tractor and fertilizer are factors affecting the probability of irrigation adoption. Results from Heckman second stage estimates show that the adoption of irrigation contributes significantly to rice yield improvement by 57 per cent. For robustness checks of the estimated effect of adoption of irrigation, the propensity score matching method was used. The results indicate that the percentage increase in rice yield due to irrigation adoption varies between 55 per cent and 60 per cent. This confirms the finding of the Heckman estimates. Other variables explaining rice yield are education, extension services, access to credit, market participation, off farm income, use of tractor, labour, and fertilizer. These results imply that besides the adoption of irrigation the provision of complementary services are needed to achieve the objective of productivity improvement.