The impact of seed vouchers on poverty reduction among smallholder rice farmers in Nigeria

In response to the global food crisis of 2008, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded an emergency rice initiative (ERI) program to boost rice production in Nigeria. The supplementary seed voucher program, implemented alongside the ERI adopted a randomized control tria...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agricultural economics 2013-11, Vol.44 (6), p.647-658
Main Authors: Awotide, Bola Amoke, Karimov, Aziz, Diagne, Aliou, Nakelse, Tebila
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Educational vouchers
Family income
Farmers
I32
Impact
Nigeria
P46
Poverty
Q12
Q16
Rice
Seed
Voucher
Welfare
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Summary:In response to the global food crisis of 2008, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded an emergency rice initiative (ERI) program to boost rice production in Nigeria. The supplementary seed voucher program, implemented alongside the ERI adopted a randomized control trial to grant randomly selected farmers access to subsidized certified improved rice seed using the seed voucher system (SVS). In this study, we provide a consistent estimate of the impact of the SVS on Poverty reduction, using mixed methodologies such as inverse propensity score weighing (IPSW) and the local average treatment effect (LATE) estimation techniques. Results show that the SVS has a positive and statistically significant impact on annual household income and per capita consumption expenditure. This study shows that availability of good quality seed at an affordable price can raise agricultural productivity, increase household income and contribute to poverty reduction.
ISSN:0169-5150
1574-0862
DOI:10.1111/agec.12079