Impact of improved maize varieties on food security in Eastern Zambia: A doubly robust analysis

Julius Manda*, Cornelis Gardebroek, Elias Kuntashula, Arega D. Alene

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

102 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of improved maize varieties on household food security in eastern Zambia using household survey data from a sample of over 800 rural households. Since treatment effect estimates are often prone to misspecification in either the treatment or outcome equation, we use the doubly robust inverse probability weighted regression adjustment method, complemented with propensity score matching on six different food security measures to obtain reliable impact estimates. Generally, we find a positive impact of improved maize adoption on food security across the two econometric approaches. Maize being the most important food staple in Zambia has a great bearing on the food security status of farm households. It is therefore imperative that a conducive environment is created that promotes the adoption of maize yield improving technologies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1709-1728
JournalReview of Development Economics
Volume22
Issue number4
Early online date22 Jul 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2018

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