The impact of NERICA adoption on productivity and poverty of the small-scale rice farmers in the Gambia

The study assessed the causal effects of NERICA adoption on rice yields and income, using country-wide data of 600 rice farmers in The Gambia. To control for differences in socio-demographic and environmental characteristics of adopters and non-adopters and enable a causal interpretation of NERICA adoption on the variables of interest, the study used the counterfactual outcome framework to control for such differences. The results, based on observed sample estimates, showed significant differences in rice yields and income between the NERICA adopters and non-adopters. Further, the results of the framework, based on the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) estimates, which allowed a causal interpretation, showed that NERICA adoption significantly increased average rice yields and annual income of small-scale rice farmers by 157 kg per hectare and $148, respectively.