Examining Underinvestment in Agriculture (IGC Policy Brief)

From:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Published
1 January 2012
Country:
Ghana
Document Type:
Briefing
Theme:
Economic Growth
First published:
1 January 2012
Authors:
Osei, R., Karlan, D., Udry, C. and Akoto, I.O.

Abstract

In the Northern Region of Ghana, smallholder famers often fail to invest in their farms, even when doing so could be profitable. Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) designed a randomized controlled trial (RCT), launched in 2009 and continuing into 2012, to explore this phenomenon, with a specific focus on whether capital constraints or risk aversion explain farmers鈥� decisions to underinvest. The 鈥淓xamining Underinvestment in Agriculture鈥� (EUI) project was implemented in 74 communities across the Northern Region, and 1,350 smallholder farmers living in these communities were randomly selected to receive 鈥渢reatments鈥� of capital, rainfall index insurance, both capital and insurance, or neither. The study鈥檚 design as a randomized controlled trial allows investigators to determine the impact of each treatment on populations statistically identical to each other.

Citation

Karlan, D.; Akoto, I.O.; Osei, R.; Udry, C. Examining Underinvestment in Agriculture (IGC Policy Brief). International Growth Centre (IGC), London, UK (2012) 6 pp.

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Published 1 January 2012
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