Gendered impact of NERICA Adoption on Farmers’ Production and Income in Central Benin

Today, development and dissemination of new technologies constitute an important strategy for agricultural intensification, poverty reduction and food security in developing countries. Rice is an important source of farmers’ income and foreign currencies in developing countries. Although women play a vital role in rice production, they have not been adequately involved in technology generation activities until recently. The New Rices for Africa (NERICA) were developed by Africa Rice Center (WARDA) in 1994 and disseminated starting in 1997 in some Sub-Saharan African countries including Benin in collaboration with National Agricultural Partners. This paper use econometric method based on Local Average Treatment effect (LATE) to estimate the gendered impact of NERICA adoption on farmers’ yield and income. The results show that NERICA adoption has positive and significant impact on farmers’ yield and income. The impacts of NERICA adoption are higher within women farmers than within men farmers