Browsing by Author "Smith, Stephen C."

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    Improved seed use and farming practices sustain after program ends in Uganda
    (United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 2017) Smith, Stephen C.; Fishman, Ram; Bobić, Vida; Sulaiman, Munshi
    Some development programs are designed on the premise that they can trigger lasting changes in poverty or food security. An intervention in eastern Uganda to increase the use of improved seed varieties and basic farming practices among women smallholders was phased out after four years due to a loss of funding. Using an innovative reverse-randomized controlled trial,1 we found that three seasons after programming ended there was no decline in rates of improved seed adoption and farmers still used the program’s cultivation techniques. While these results may be unique to BRAC’s programming and the local context, the study has larger implications for determining a program’s efficient duration outside of one set by funding cycles.
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    Training, Technology, and Credit in Senegal and Uganda
    (BASIS Assets and Market Access Innovation Lab, 2014) Smith, Stephen C.; Fishman, Ram
    Many technologies and improved farming practices hold great promise for boosting agricultural production and reducing poverty in developing countries, yet in Sub Saharan Africa the adoption of such technologies has been slow. Up-front costs, lack of effective and reliable supply chains, and information gaps are clear barriers and often work together to prevent or delay technology adoption. A farmer may be reluctant to make the risky and large investments needed to apply an unfamiliar technology such as irrigation or even use fertilizer and improved seeds. Combining an initial subsidy and reliable supply of inputs and/or capital with training and demonstrations should, in theory, help overcome these and other obstacles such as an initial lack of credit. Once farmers have been convinced of the technology’s benefits, and have had a successful and affordable experience with it, they should be more willing to re-invest some of the profits in the inputs and maintenance required to effectively use the technology and make its usage financially self-sustaining.