Household wealth and adoption of Integrated Striga Management (ISM) technologies in northern Nigeria

Agricultural households in developing countries often are unable and unwilling to adopt new technologies due to the deterrents to adoption imposed by numerous socio-economic, institutional and ecological factors. However, economic theory predicts that relatively wealthy households have better ability to cope with production and price risks and as a result are more willing to adopt improved farm technology compared to poor households. Cross-sectional farm-level data collected from 643 households in Kano and Bauchi states in northern Nigeria in the 2013/2014 cropping season was used for the study. The study first categorized households into two wealth groups - poorly-endowed and well-endowed, to test whether differences in their wealth/stock of productive assets affects their Integrated Striga Management (ISM) technologies adoption and use intensity decisions. Separate double-hurdle models were estimated for each wealth groups. Empirical results show that factors explaining adoption decision and use intensity of ISM technologies differ across the two wealth groups. Hence, it is imperative that policies that are aimed at increasing the adoption and use intensity of ISM technologies and their subsequent impacts on households' food security and livelihood target different wealth groups.