How Can African Agriculture Adapt to Climate Change?: A Counterfactual Analysis from Ethiopia
Summary (2 min read)
Introduction
- In particular, the authors investigate whether implementing these strategies in combination is more effective than implementing them individually.
- Unobservable characteristics of farmers and their farm may affect both the adaptation strategy decision and net revenues, resulting in inconsistent estimates of the effect of adaptation on net revenues.
III. SURVEY AND DATA DESCRIPTION
- In their case, the rainfall and temperature data at the weather stations are reproduced by the interpolation for those stations, which ensures the credibility of the method (see Wahba 1990 for details).
- If the error terms of the selection model (1) ηij are correlated with the error terms uij of the net revenue functions [3a]– [3m], the expected values of uij conditional on the sample selection are nonzero, and the OLS estimates will be inconsistent.
- November 2013Land Economics754 [4m] the average of plot-variant variables such as the inputs used (seeds, manure,S̄i fertilizer, and labor).
V. COUNTERFACTUAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT EFFECTS
- The authors present the estimation of the treatment effects (Heckman, Tobias, and Vytlacil 2001), that is, the effect of the treatment “adoption of strategy j” on the net rev- enues of the farm households that adopted strategy j.
- In absence of a self-selection problem, it would be appropriate to assign to farm households that adapted a counterfactual net revenue equal to the average net revenue of nonadapters with the same observable characteristics.
- Unobserved heterogeneity in the propensity to choose an adaptation strategy affects also net revenues and creates a selection bias in the net revenue equation that cannot be ignored.
- The multinomial endogenous switching regression model can be applied to produce selection-corrected predictions of counterfactual net revenues.
- In particular, the authors follow Bourguignon, Fournier, and Gurgand (2007, 179 and 201– 3), and they first derive the expected net revenues of farm households that adapted, which in their study means j = 2 . . .
Drivers of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies
- Table 4 presents parameter estimates of the multinomial logit model and allows us to answer the first research question:.
- The authors find that both government extension and farmer-to-farmer extension services have a positive and statistically significant effect on some of the strategies.
- The authors find instead that adaptation to climate change based upon a portfolio of strategies significantly increases farm households’ net revenues.
- More specifically, the authors find that the positive impact of changing crops is significant when coupled with water conservation strategies or soil conservation strategies.
- Some adaptation strategies can be effective in the short run, while others may be deliver a payoff in the long run.
TABLE A2
- Wald test on instrumental variables 0.053 Sample size 868 Adjusted R2 0.315 Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses.
- Fixed effects at the woreda level are included.
TABLE A3
- Ordinary Least Squares Estimates of Net Revenue Equations on Pooled Sample Dependent Variable: Net Revenues per Hectare (ETB/ha) Coefficient (Std. Err.) Deressa, Temesgen, R. M. Hassen, Tekie Alemu, Mahmud Yesuf, and Claudia Ringler.
- “Investment in Soil Conservation in Northern Ethiopia: The Role of Land Tenure Security and Public Programs.” Agricultural Economics 29 (1): 69–84.
- In Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Business and Economics Section, 423–26.
- “Robust Negative Impacts of Climate Change on African Agriculture.” Environmental Research Letters 5 (1): 1–8. Seo, S. Niggol. 2010.
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Frequently Asked Questions (8)
Q2. What is the role of extension services in determining the implementation of adaptation strategies?
Extension services are, for instance, very important in determining the implementation of adaptation strategies, which could result in more food security for all farmers irrespective of their unobservable characteristics.
Q3. What is the effect of the selection model on the net revenue functions?
if the error terms of the selection model (1) ηij are correlated with the error terms uij of the net revenue functions [3a]– [3m], the expected values of uij conditional on the sample selection are nonzero, and the OLS estimates will be inconsistent.
Q4. What are the strengths of the thin plate spline method?
Its strengths are that it is readily available, relatively easy to apply, and accounts for spatially varying elevation relationships.
Q5. How do the authors establish the admissibility of these instruments?
The authors establish the admissibility of these instruments by performing a simple falsification test: if a variable is a valid selection instrument, it will affect the decision of choosing an adaptation strategy, but it will not affect the net revenue per hectare among farm households that did not adapt (Di Falco, Veronesi, and Yesuf 2011).
Q6. What is the role of extension services on the probability of adopting the strategies?
Government extension services are positively correlated with the probability of adaptation via changing crops in isolation and in conjunction with soil conservation measures, while farmer-to-farmer extension increases the likelihood of adopting strategies only in combination.
Q7. What is the significance of the standard error in the selection instrument?
In addition, standard errors are bootstrapped to account for the heteroskedasticity arising from the two-stage estimation procedure.
Q8. What is the FAO's economic and social development paper 107?
“Land Reform and Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Controversies and Guidelines.” FAO Economic and Social Development Paper 107.