Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development

Transcription

1 Asan Journal of Agrculture and Rural Development journal homepage: Impact of Agrcultural Extenson Servces on Technology Adopton and Crops Yeld: Emprcal Evdence from Pakstan Akhter Al Agrcultural Economst, CIMMYT, Pakstan Dl Bahadur Rahut Program Manager; (Socoeconomc Program), CIMMYT, Ethopa Abstract The present study was carred out n the rce-wheat area of Pakstan Punjab. The data for the study was collected from three man dstrcts of central Punjab Provnce.e. Gujranwala, Shekhupura and Hafzabad. In total 34 farmers were ntervewed. The mpact of agrcultural extenson servces was estmated on adopton of new mproved technologes and crop yelds. The propensty score matchng approach for mpact evaluaton was employed n the current study to correct for potental sample selecton basedness that may arse due to systematc dfferences between the farmers havng benefted from agrcultural extenson servces and not benefted from agrcultural extenson servces. The emprcal results ndcate that agrcultural extenson servces play a sgnfcant role n adopton of mproved agrcultural technologes lke laser levelng, rce and wheat varetes. The farmers havng beneftted from agrcultural extenson servces were also gettng hgher rce and wheat yelds. The results also ndcates that mostly the large farmers are gettng benefts from agrcultural extenson servces and small scale farmers have less access to agrcultural extenson servces. Keywords: Agrcultural extenson, technology adopton, propensty score matchng, Punjab, Pakstan Introducton 1 Agrcultural extenson s a mode by whch the latest nformaton s communcated to the farmng communty. The effectve extenson servces can help n the adopton of new agrcultural technologes whch can leads to hgher crop yelds and more household ncomes (Khan et al., 006).In addton the agrcultural extenson servces can help n reducng poverty levels and 1 Correspondng author s: Name: Akhter Al Emal address: akhter.al@cgar.org ensure household food securty especally among small and resource poor farmers. In Pakstan snce ndependence the extenson work has been n progress but ths s fact that n developng countres the farmers do not have access to suffcent agrcultural nformaton (Luqman et al., 005). The extenson agents have mostly contact wth large farmers and small and margnalzed farmers normally receve less nformaton (Sofranko et al., 1988). However some researchers argue that ths s due to fact that large farmers are more educated and have clear understandng 801

2 regardng adopton of new nnovatve technques (Owens et al., 003). In Pakstan the agrcultural extenson servces can help the meet the food needs of ncreasng populaton. The purpose of the agrcultural extenson servces are to support farmers n the good decson makng regardng adopton of new agrcultural technologes and also regardng adopton of mproved management practces (Subed and Garforth, 1996). The past researchers have mostly found that agrcultural extenson servces were not qute adequate to educate the farmers effectvely.e. Rogers 1987; Prnsley et al., A recent study revealed that three fourth of the Asan farmers have no contact wth the agrcultural extenson servces (Maalouf et al., 1991). A number of reasons can be advocated for the poor agrcultural extenson servces lke few fnancal resource, lack of traned staff, nadequate plannng etc. (Antholt, 1994). Mostly publc extenson servces have consstently faled to deal wth the stespecfc needs and problems of the farmers (Ahmad, 1999). The same s true n the case of Pakstan (Ahmad et al., 000; Sofranko et al., 1988). The objectve of the current paper s to study the mpact of agrcultural extenson servces on adopton of new agrcultural technology lke laser levelng and rce and wheat varetes and also on the rce and wheat crops yeld. Informaton regardng new technologes.e. laser levelng, rce and wheat varetes and rce and wheat yelds was collected from both categores of farmers havng beneftted from agrcultural extenson servces and not beneftted from agrcultural extenson servces. The rest of the paper s organzed as follows. In secton conceptual framework and emprcal model s presented. In secton 3 data and descrpton of varables are descrbed. In secton 4 emprcal results are dscussed and paper fnally concludes wth some polcy recommendatons. Conceptual framework In the current study t s assumed that farmers contact wth extenson agents for acqurng advce and nformaton regardng adopton of new technologes and crop producton technology etc. The nformaton farmers acqure from the extenson agents helps them n ncreasng crop yelds whch n turn can results n ncreased household ncome and reduced poverty levels. Hence, farmers get nformaton from the extenson agents to have hgher utlty levels. The farmers utlty functon can be stated n the smple form as follows: U U(,, X, )... (1) In the above equaton U ndcates the utlty functon, whle ndcates the vst of the extenson agents to the farmers and value of s 0 n case of no extenson staff vst and value ncreases as the frequency of vsts ncreases, ndcates the wealth status of the household lke number of acres owned by the farmer, X ndcates the farmers personal characterstcs and ndcates a bnary relatonshp 1 f farmer hmself vst extenson offce and 0 otherwse. It s assumed that farmers utlty level s affected f there s problem n ether way contact.e. ether extenson staff do not vst the farmer or farmer hmself do not vst the extenson staff. Based on ths farmer utlty level can be quantfed as follows: The farmers utlty level s maxmum when the extenson staff vst the farmers and farmer also vst the extenson staff as presented n equaton. U U(,, X, )... () max 80

3 The utlty level s medum when one of the contact levels are mssng.e. ether extenson staff don t vst the farmer as presented n equaton 3 or farmer don t vst the extenson staff as presented n equaton 4. U med U(, X, )... (3) U med U(,, X )... (4) The farmers utlty level s mnmum when both the contacts are mssng.e. extenson staff do not vst the farmer and farmers also do not vst the extenson staff as represented n equaton 5. U mn U(, X )... (5) The emprcal analyss was carred out by employng the propensty score matchng approach to correct for potental sample selecton basedness that may arse due to systematc dfferences between the partcpants and non partcpants. Propensty Score Matchng Approach The propensty score matchng s new technque as defned by Rosenbaum and Rubn (1983) as the condtonal probablty of recevng a treatment gven pretreatment characterstcs: p Z Pr{ D 1 Z} E{ D Z} (6) Where D={0,1} s the ndcator of exposure to treatment and Z s the vector of pretreatment characterstcs. If the exposure to treatment s random wthn cells defned by Z, t s also random wthn cells defned by the values of the mono-dmensonal varable p (Z). As a result, gven a populaton of unts denoted by, f the propensty score p Z ) s known the ( Average effect of Treatment on the Treated (ATT), whch s most promnent evaluaton parameter and explctly focuses on the effects on those for whom the programme s actually ntended and can be gven as E{ Y1 Y0 D 1} E E{ Y Y D 1, p( Z )}} E { 1 0 { E{ Y1 D 1, p( Z)} E{ Y0 D 0, p( Z )} D 1} (7) where the outer expectaton s over the dstrbuton of ( p( Z ) D 1) and Y 1 andy 0 are the potental outcomes n the two counterfactual stuatons of treatment and non treatment respectvely. The expected outcome of the average treatment effect for the treated are defned as the dfference n the expected outcome values wth and wthout treatment. As ponted out by Heckman (1997) that the average treatment effect for the treated (ATT) may not be of relevance for the polcy makers because t ncludes the effect on persons for whom the programme was never ntended. For example, f a programme s specfcally targeted at ndvduals wth low famly ncome, there s lttle nterest n the effect of such a programme for a mllonare. The propensty score matchng rest on two assumptons.e. unconfoundedness assumpton and common support condton. The unconfoundedness assumpton states that once the observable factors are controlled for technology adopton s random and uncorrelated wth the outcome varables and the common support assumpton states that matchng can only be performed over the common support regon. Data and descrpton of varables A detaled questonnare was developed for data collecton n rce-wheat area of Pakstan Punjab. The relevance of questonnare wth feld level stuaton was observed and some defcences were dentfed. The questonnare was fnalzed 803

4 after ncorporatng the comments. For mpact assessment relevant socoeconomc, human, natural resource/ bologcal and nsttutonal ndcators were ncluded n the study. A detaled survey was carred out durng the month of December 004 to determne the mpact of dfferent labour categores on rce-wheat crops yeld and household ncome. The data and descrpton of varables s presented n table 1. The data was collected from 3 mportant dstrcts of rce wheat area lke Gujranwala, Shekhupura and Hafzabad. About 46 percent farmers were ntervewed from Gujranwala dstrct, percent were ntervewed from Shekhupura dstrct and 3 percent were ntervewed from Hafzabad dstrct. In total 34 farmers were ntervewed. As the table 1 ndcates only 7 percent farmers have benefted from agrcultural extenson servces and vce versa. Table 1: Data and descrpton of varables Varable Descrpton Mean Std. Dev Extenson Contact 1 f farmer have contact wth extenson servces, 0 otherwse Dstrct1 Gujranwala 1 f farmer belongs to Gujranwala dstrct, 0 otherwse Dstrct Shekhupura 1 f farmer belongs to Shekhupura dstrct, 0 otherwse Dstrct 3 Hafzabad 1 f farmer belongs to Hafzabad dstrct, 0 otherwse Market dstance Dstance of market n klometers Bank dstance Dstance of bank n klometers Road dstance Dstance of road n klometers Age Age of farmer n number of years Experence Experence of farmer n number of years Educaton Educaton of farmer n number of years Caste 1 f farmer belongs to scheduled caste, 0 otherwse Settler 1 f farmer s settler, 0 f mgrant Famly sze Total number of famly members n the household Refrgerator 1 f household owns a refrgerator, 0 otherwse Tractor 1 f household owns a tractor, 0 otherwse Bcycle 1 f household owns a bcycle, 0 otherwse Motorcycle 1 f household owns a motorcycle, 0 otherwse Zt drll 1 f household owns a Zt drll, 0 otherwse Car 1 f household owns a car, 0 otherwse Tube well 1 f household owns a tube well, 0 otherwse Rado 1 f household owns a rado, 0 otherwse TV 1 f household owns a TV, 0 otherwse Washng machne Credt (dummy) 1 f household owns a washng machne, 0 otherwse f household have access to credt faclty, 0 otherwse

5 Rce area (acres) Area under rce n acres Rce yeld (maunds) Yeld of rce n maunds Rce prce (rupees) Prce of rce n rupees Wheat area (acres) Area under wheat n acres Wheat yeld (maunds) Yeld of wheat n maunds Wheat prce (rupees) Prce of wheat n rupees Income Income from nonfarm labour n rupees Source: Authors own calculatons The mean dstance to the market was about 7 klometres from the household. The mean dstance to the bank was about 9 klometres. The mean road dstance was about klometres. The mean age of the farmers was about 45 year and the mean experence was about 4 years. The mean educaton level was about 6 years of schoolng. As the caste system s also qute strong n the study area and nformaton about caste was also collected. Approxmately 4 percent of the farmers belonged to scheduled caste and the rest belonged to non-scheduled caste. About 60 percent of the farmers were settlers and the rest were mgrant. The average famly sze was about 7 persons per household. Informaton regardng a number of household assets was also collected. About 48 percent of the households have own refrgerator and 36 percent of the households have own tractor. About 6 percent of the households have own bcycle. The 30 percent of the households have own motorcycle. Only 8 percent of the households have own zero tllage drll. About 9 percent of the households have own car. About 8 percent of the households have own tube well. About 30 percent of the households have own rado. Smlarly 6 percent of the households have own TV. About 58 percent of the households have own washng machne. About 76 percent of the households have avaled credt faclty. The area under rce was about 18 acres and average rce yeld was 3 maunds. The mean rce prce was 465 rupees. The area under wheat was about 16 acres per households. The average wheat yeld was 7 maunds per household. The average wheat prce was rupees 310. The average household ncome was about rupees Emprcal results The emprcal results regardng determnants of farmers contact wth agrcultural extenson servces are presented n table. The dependent varable s dummy.e. 1 f farmer have beneftted from extenson servces and 0 otherwse. The road access coeffcent s postve and sgnfcant at 1 percent level of sgnfcance, ndcatng that more the road access, more the chances that farmers wll be beneftted from extenson servces and vce versa. The age coeffcent s postve, although non-sgnfcant ndcatng that mostly the experenced farmers are benefted from agrcultural extenson servces. The caste system s also qute strong n the study area, the caste was ncluded as dummy varable, 1 f farmer belonged to a scheduled caste and 0 otherwse. The caste coeffcent ndcates that scheduled caste farmers are more beneftted from extenson servces and vce versa. The educaton coeffcent s postve and sgnfcant at 1 percent level of sgnfcance ndcatng that more the educaton levels of the farmers more are the chances that farmers wll be benefted from extenson servces and vce versa. The famly sze coeffcent s negatve and nonsgnfcant. The land holdng coeffcent s postve and sgnfcant at 1 percent level of sgnfcance ndcatng that more the land holdng more the chances that farmers wll be beneftted from extenson servces. From ths fndng ths can also be nterpreted that extenson personnel mostly 805

6 vst the large land holders. A number of household assets were also ncluded n the model. The bcycle ownershp s postve and sgnfcant at 10 percent level of sgnfcance. The TV ownershp s postve and sgnfcant at 1 percent level of sgnfcance. The tube well ownershp s postve and sgnfcant at 1 percent level of sgnfcance. The tractor ownershp s postve and non-sgnfcant. The car ownershp s negatve and non-sgnfcant. The rado ownershp s postve and nonsgnfcant. The credt ownershp s negatve and non-sgnfcant. The dstrct dummes were also ncluded n the model to capture the regonal varaton. The value of pseudo R s ndcatng that 30 percent varaton n the dependent varable s due to ndependent varables. The LR s sgnfcant at 1 percent level of sgnfcance, ndcatng the robustness of the varables ncluded n the model. Table : Propensty score matchng estmates (Probt estmates) Varable Coeffcent t-values Road access 0.403*** 3.10 Age Caste Educaton 0.073***.47 Famly sze Organzaton membershp Landholdng 0.016**.17 Bcycle 0.468* 1.85 TV 0.03***.94 Tube well 0.541*** 1.99 Tractor Car Rado Credt Dstrct dummes Gujranwala *** Shekhupura Constant Number of Observatons 34 Pseudo R LR 8.41 Prob> Note: The results are sgnfcantly dfferent from zero at ***, **, * at 1, 5 and 10% levels respectvely. The propensty score matchng results for average treatment affect for the treated (ATT) are presented n table 3. A large number of dfferent matchng algorthms were employed for the emprcal analyss.e. Nearest Neghbour Matchng (NNM), Mahalanobs Metrc Matchng (MMM), Radus Matchng (RM) and Kernel Matchng (KM) were employed n the current analyss. The outcome varables are new technologes lke laser levelng, wheat and rce varetes and yelds of rce and wheat crops. The laser leveler s a new technology ntroduced n the rce-wheat area of Pakstan Punjab. The laser leveler helps to mprove the sol texture, structure and aeraton of sol. In addton laser leveler also helps n water savng as the sol structure s mproved. The rce and wheat varetes are the mproved varetes adopted by the farmers. 806

7 Table 3: ATT results for adopton of new technologes and rce and wheat crops yeld Category Matchng Outcome ATT t-value Calper Crtcal level Number Number Algorthms of hdden bas of treated of Control Adopton of New Technologes NNM Laser Leveler 1.3*** MMM Laser Leveler 1.45*** RM Laser Leveler 1.0*** KM Laser Leveler 1.61*** NNM Wheat Varetes _ MMM Wheat Varetes _ RM Wheat Varetes _ 61 1 KM Wheat Varetes _ NNM Rce Varetes _ MMM Rce Varetes _ RM Rce Varetes 0.85* KM Rce Varetes _ Impact on Crop Yelds NNM Rce Yeld _ MMM Rce Yeld 0.3* RM Rce Yeld _ KM Rce Yeld 0.18* NNM Wheat Yeld 0.5* MMM Wheat Yeld 0.34** RM Wheat Yeld 0.* KM Wheat Yeld 0.16* Note: NNM stands for Nearest Neghbour matchng, MMM stands for Mahalanobs Metrc Matchng, RM stands for Radus Matchng and KM stands for Kernel Matchng whle ATT stands for Average Treatment Affect for the Treated. 807

8 The mpact of agrcultural extenson servces on adopton of laser levelng technology s postve and sgnfcant at 1 percent level of sgnfcance n all the four matchng algorthms.e. NNM, MMM, RM and KM. The emprcal results for adopton of mproved wheat varetes are nonsgnfcant n all the four matchng algorthms ndcatng that agrcultural extenson servces needs to be mproved regardng adopton of mproved wheat varetes. The results regardng extenson role n adopton of mproved rce varetes are postve although sgnfcant only n case of RM. The mpact of agrcultural extenson servces on rce yeld are postve, although sgnfcant only n case of MMM and KM. The extenson servces mpact on wheat yelds are postve and sgnfcant n all the four matchng algorthms.e. NNM, MMM, RM and KM. The overall emprcal results ndcate that farmers havng contact wth agrcultural extenson servces are more lkely to adopt new mproved agrcultural technologes. The crtcal levels of hdden bas are also reported n table 3. The crtcal level of hdden bas are only reported for the sgnfcant results as the hdden bas for the non-sgnfcant results are meanngless. The crtcal level of hdden bas vares from lowest of 1.05 to a maxmum of The value of 1.50 ndcates that farmers havng extenson contact and not havng extenson contact dffers n ther odds of technology adopton up to 50 percent level. The presence of hdden bas does not ndcates that results are msleadng, ths only ndcates the level up to whch the farmers benefttng from extenson servces and not benefttng from extenson servces dffers. The number of treated and number of control are also reported n the table. In case of applyng propensty score matchng approach the man objectve s to balance the covarates before and after matchng and for that a large number of balancng tests are employed lke value of R before and after matchng and the jont sgnfcance of covarates before and after matchng. The crtcal level of hdden bas before and after matchng. The results regardng covarates balancng are presented n table 4. The medan absolute bas before matchng s qute hgh n all the four dfferent matchng algorthms. Before matchng the medan absolute bas s n the range of After matchng the medan absolute bas s qute low and s n the range of The percentage bas reducton s n the range of percent to percent hence ndcatng that after matchng consderable amount of bas has been reduced. The value of R s another ndcator of covarate balancng. The value of R s qute hgh before matchng and s qute low after matchng ndcatng that after matchng the partcpants and non-partcpants are very smlar to each other. The p-value of jont sgnfcance of covarates s qute low before matchng ndcatng that jont sgnfcance should always be accepted before matchng. The p-value s qute hgh after matchng ndcatng that jont sgnfcance should always be rejected after matchng, that after matchng the partcpants and nonpartcpants are not systematcally dfferent from each other. The results regardng ndcators of covarates balancng before and after matchng are also presented n fgure 1. The fgure ndcates that covarates have been balanced and there are no systematc dfferences after matchng and also hghlghts the mportance of mposton of common support condton. 808

9 Table 4: Indcators of covarates balancng before and after matchng Matchng Outcome Medan Medan % bas Value Value p-value p-value Algorthm absolute bas absolute bas reducton of R of R of jont of jont before after before after sgnfcance sgnfcance matchng matchng matchng matchng of covarates of covarates % before after matchng matchng NNM Laser Leveler MMM Laser Leveler RM Laser Leveler KM Laser Leveler NNM Wheat Varetes MMM Wheat Varetes RM Wheat Varetes KM Wheat Varetes NNM Rce Varetes MMM Rce Varetes RM Rce Varetes KM Rce Varetes NNM Rce Yeld MMM Rce Yeld RM Rce Yeld KM Rce Yeld NNM Wheat Yeld MMM Wheat Yeld RM Wheat Yeld KM Wheat Yeld Note: NNM stands for Nearest Neghbour Macthng, MMM stands for Mahalanobs Metrc Matchng, RM stands for Radus Matchng and KM stands for Kernel Matchng. 809

10 Propensty Score Untreated: Off support Treated Impact on laser leveler Untreated: On support Propensty Score Untreated Impact on rce varetes Treated Propensty Score Untreated Treated: Off support Impact on wheat varetes Treated: On support Propensty Score Untreated Treated: Off support Impact on rce yeld Treated: On support Propensty Score Untreated Treated: Off support Treated: On support Fgure 1: Indcator of covarates balancng before and after matchng Impact on wheat yeld Note: Treated on support ndcates the ndvduals n the partcpaton group who found a sutable match, whle treated off support ndcates the ndvdual n the partcpaton group who does not found a sutable matchng. The untreated on support ndcates the ndvduals n the control group who found a sutable match, whle untreated off support ndcates the ndvdual n the partcpaton group who were not able to found a sutable match. 810

11 Concluson The current study has mportant polcy mplcatons. From the emprcal results t can be clearly concluded that agrcultural extenson servces n Pakstan play an mportant role regardng laser levelng technology adopton. Laser levelng beng new technology s very mportant regardng water savng and ncreasng sol texture and structure. Ths benefcal aspects of laser levelng technology need to be further explored n future studes. However, the agrculture extenson role regardng adopton of mproved varetes s not much encouragng especally the wheat varetes. In ths partcular area the extenson servces needs to be mproved. The most mportant and postve mpact of agrcultural extenson servces are on the yelds of rce and wheat crops n Pakstan. Wheat s an mportant food crop whle rce s an mportant cash crop n the study area. The ncrease n the yeld of these crops drectly can help n ncreasng the household ncome and reducng the much needed poverty levels n Pakstan. Overall the agrcultural extenson are playng mportant postve role but stll a lot of mprovement can be made. The probt estmates also ndcates that mostly the large farmers currently benefted from agrcultural extenson servces and the extenson servce to small farmers needs to be provded. References Ahmad, M. (1999). A comparatve analyss of the effectveness of agrcultural extenson work by publc and prvate sectors n Punjab, Pakstan. PhD thess. Unversty of New England, Armdale NSW. Ahmad, M. Davdson, A. P. and Al, T. (000). Effectveness of publc and prvate sectors extenson: mplcatons for Pakstan farmers. Paper presented at 16 th annual conference of AIAEE held at Arlngton VA. Antholt, C. H. (1994). Gettng ready for the twenty-frst century: techncal change and nsttutonal modernzaton n agrculture. World Bank Techncal Paper No. 17. Washngton D. C.: Wsorld Bank. Khan, M. Z., N. Khald and Khan M. A. (006). Weeds Related Professonal Competency of Agrcultural Extenson Agents n NWFP, Pakstan. Pakstan Journal of Weed Scence Research, 1(4): Heckman, J., Lalonde, R. and Smth, J. (1999). The economcs and econometrcs of actve labour market programmes n Ashenfelter, O. and Card, D. Handbook of labour economcs col III, Amsterdam. Heckman, J. (1997). Instrumental Varables- A Study of the Implct Behavoral Assumpton Used n Makng Program Evaluatons. The Journal of Human Resources, 3(3), Heckman, J., Ichmura, H. and Todd, P. (1997). Matchng as an econometrc evaluaton estmator: evdence from evaluatng a job tranng programme. Revew of Economc Studes, 64: Luqman, M., J. Asf and A. Nadeem (005). Impact of Admnstratve Changes on the Workng Effcency of Extenson Staff after Decentralzaton n the Punjab, Pakstan. Maalouf, W. D., Adhkarya, R. and Contado, T. (1991). Extenson coverage and resource problems: the need for publcprvate co-operaton; n W. M. Rvera and D. J. Gustafson (eds). Agrcultural extenson: worldwde nsttutonal evoluton and forces for change. Amsterdam: Elsever Scence. Owens, T., Hoddnott, J. and Knsey, B. (003). The mpact of agrcultural extenson on farm producton n resettlement areas of Zmbabwe. Economc Development and Cultural Change, 51: Prnsley, R., Dore, J., Marks, N., McGukan, N. and Thompson, P. (1994). The role of prvate sector n extenson: A workng paper. Rural Industres Research 811

12 and Development Corporaton Occasonal paper No. 94(3). Australa. Rogers, W. L. (1987). The prvate sector: ts extenson systems and publc/prvate coordnaton, n W. M. Rvera and S. G. Schram (eds). Agrcultural extenson worldwde: ssues practces and emergng prortes. London: Croom Helm. Rosenbaum, P. and Rubn, D (1983). The central role of the propensty score n observatonal studes for causal effects. Bometrca, 70: Sofranko, A. J., A. Khan and G. Morgan (1988). Insght nto Farmer-Extenson Contacts: evdence from Pakstan. Agrcultural Admnstraton and extenson, 30: Market Polces. schwezersche zetschrft fuer volkswrtschaft und statstk, 136(3): rs.html. Subed, A. and C. Garforth (1996). Gender, nformaton and Communcaton Network: Implcaton for Extenson. Journal of Agrcultural Educaton, 4(): Notes. One maunds s equal to 40 kgs.. Dfferent matchng algorthms were employed to check the robustness of the results.. Matchng can only be performed over the regon of common support. 81