Welfare impacts of improved groundnut varieties in eastern Zambia: a heterogeneous treatment effects approach

Abstract

This paper examines the welfare impacts of improved groundnut varieties in eastern Zambia using data from a survey of over 600 households. We use the stratification-multilevel, matching-smoothing, and smoothing-differencing methods to analyse how treatment effects vary with the propensity to adopt improved groundnut varieties. We find consistent results across the models indicating that crop yields and incomes increase significantly with the propensity to adopt improved groundnut varieties. The results point to the need for policies and strategies that increase access to market information and overcome the constraints to adoption for realising the benefits from improved groundnut varieties in Zambia.