Maize technologies and rural poverty reduction in Ethiopia

Abstract

<title>Abstract</title><p>In the past four decades, more than 40 improved maize varieties, including hybrids and open-pollinated varieties, have been developed and released in Ethiopia by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre. Most improved varieties were released after the mid-1990s. This chapter aims to investigate the ex-post impact of these improved maize varieties on household well-being and on aggregate rural poverty. First, the literature on impacts of improved crop varieties is reviewed with a focus on maize in Africa. Next, the chapter discusses the conceptual framework and how the analysis addresses challenges associated with measuring heterogeneous and disaggregated impacts when adoption is endogenous using observational data. The model is presented and discussed. This discussion is followed by a description of data collection and summary statistics on maize production in the study areas. Next, results are presented and discussed. A concluding section discusses implications.</p>