Agricultural Technology Adoption and Household Welfare

Adoption of agricultural technologies by farm households—ranging from improved crop varieties, inorganic fertilisers, mechanisation and digital tools—has emerged as a pivotal determinant of productivity, food security and poverty alleviation across diverse agroecological zones. Research has consistently shown that factors such as access to credit, extension services, household education levels, labour availability and gender dynamics shape adoption patterns. Complementary use of multiple technologies often yields synergistic gains, enhancing yields while diversifying diets and stabilising incomes. Decision-making structures within households, including joint spousal choices, also influence both the intensity of uptake and the resultant welfare outcomes. Despite these benefits, barriers such as capital constraints, limited information and infrastructural gaps persist, underscoring the need for tailored policy interventions, multi-stakeholder innovation platforms and gender-responsive advisory services to foster inclusive and sustainable rural development.

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Agricultural Technology Adoption and Household Welfare publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in agricultural technology adoption and household welfare across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Multinomial endogenous switching regression: A statistical technique that accounts for selection bias by modelling multiple adoption choices and their simultaneous impacts on outcomes.

Endogenous switching regression: A two-stage method that corrects for unobserved factors influencing both the decision to adopt a technology and its subsequent effects on productivity or welfare.

Propensity score matching: A quasi-experimental approach that pairs adopters and non-adopters with similar observable characteristics to estimate causal impacts of technology use.

References

1. Food security and poverty reduction effects of agricultural technologies adoption − a multinomial endogenous switching regression application in rural Zimbabwe. Food Policy (2024).
2. Joint decision-making, technology adoption and food security: Evidence from rice varieties in eastern India. World Development (2023).
3. Adoption of improved agricultural technology and its impact on household income: a propensity score matching estimation in eastern Ethiopia. Agriculture & Food Security (2021).