Yield Effects of Tissue Culture Bananas in Kenya: Accounting for Selection Bias and the Role of Complementary Inputs

By N. Kabunga, Thomas DuBois, M. Qaim. 2012

122 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We analyze yield effects of tissue culture (TC) banana technology in the Kenyan small farm sector, using recent survey data and an endogenous switching regression approach. TC banana plantlets, which are free from pests and diseases, have been introduced in East Africa since the late-1990s. While field experiments show significant yield advantages over traditional banana suckers, a rigorous assessment of impacts in farmers' fields is still outstanding. A comparison of mean yield levels between TC adopters and non-adopters in our sample shows no significant difference. However, we find a negative selection bias, indicating that farmers with lower than average yields are more likely to adopt TC. Controlling for this bias results in a positive and significant TC net yield gain of 7%. We also find that TC technology is more knowledgeintensive and more responsive to irrigation than traditional bananas. Simulations show that improving access to irrigation could lift TC productivity gains to above 20%. The analytical approach developed and applied here may also be useful for the evaluation of other knowledgeintensive package technologies and innovations in perennial crops.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/39595c6ff6fee119ec37b555e8e1a0057a71c546

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Economics and Econometrics

In General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

In Plant Science

Citations in the corpus

Gender, agricultural commercialization, and collective action in Kenya (2012, background): “Tissue culture plantlets are higher yielding, but they also require more inputs such as water and fertilizer (Kabunga et al. 2012).”
Impact of tissue culture banana technology on farm household income and food security in Kenya (2014, background): “Farmers who have experienced severe problems with pests and diseases are more willing to adopt TC, whereas banana growers with healthy and highyielding traditional plantations may be less interested in this technology (Kabunga et al., 2011).”
Does cooperative membership increase and accelerate agricultural technology adoption? Empirical evidence from Zambia (2020, background): “The growing literature suggests that farmer associations increase the adoption of agricultural innovations (Abdulai and Huffman, 2014; Abdulai, 2016; Kabunga et al., 2012; Kassie et al., 2013).”