Improving the Productivity and Income of Smallholder Sorghum Farmers: The Role of Improved Crop Varieties in Nigeria

Abstract

Among others, biotic and abiotic constraints associated with climate variability contribute to the low productivity of sorghum in Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries. In this regard, improved sorghum varieties (ISVs) have been developed to address the constraints and boost the productivity of smallholder sorghum farmers. However, there is a scarcity of empirical studies on the adoption and impacts of ISVs. Using plot-level data from 3308 plots, we examine the drivers and impacts of the adoption of ISVs on the productivity and net income of sorghum farmers in Nigeria. To do so, we estimate an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model, which accounts for potential selection bias from observed and unobserved heterogeneity, and we perform some robustness checks. Our results show that the adoption rate of ISVs is about 25% in the study area. Among other factors, access to varietal information and distance to the seed market strongly explain the adoption of ISVs. The adoption of ISVs led to an increase in sorghum yield and net income by 13% and 17% respectively. Our results suggest that most smallholder sorghum farmers will not benefit from the productivity and income gains, given the relatively low adoption of ISVs. Overall, our findings imply that policymakers and development partners should increase investments in promoting the widespread adoption of ISVs through interventions, such as improved extension services and accessibility of seeds to deliver productivity gains to smallholder sorghum farmers.