Estimating the impact of sericulture adoption on farmer income in Rwanda
Alexis Habiyaremye
#2017-024
The adoption of an agricultural technology is often seen as a way to
overcome the constraints imposed by the existing resources and/or
production methods. As a small landlocked country, Rwanda sought to
develop the capability to produce silk, a high value-to-volume ratio
product, as a means to overcome the constraints of high transportation
cost of exports. Sericulture was also seen as a handy strategy to boost
rural farmer income by putting previously less productive land to use
for mulberry plantations. Because sericulture was not introduced
randomly, this study relied on observational data and applied propensity
score matching to estimate its income and poverty reduction effects in
six rural districts. The results indicate that sericulture adoption had
beneficial effects both on increasing income and reducing poverty. The
strengthening of related skills development and the supporting
infrastructure remains crucial for the sericulture to successfully
diffuse and yield economic benefits commensurate with its potential.
Keywords: Sericulture, Agricultural technology adoption, Propensity
score matching
JEL Classification: C13, C15, O32, O38