Adoption of soil and water conservation technology and its effect on the productivity of smallholder rice farmers in Southwest Nigeria

This study estimated the effect of the adoption of soil and water conservation (SWC) on the productivity of 360 smallholder rice farmers in Southwest Nigeria. An endogenous switching regression model (ESRM) was employed to estimate the productivities of adopter and non-adopters of SWC. A doubly robust inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA) was used as a credible remedy for potentially biased estimates of average treatment on the treated (ATT) and potential outcome mean (POM) of the endogenous treatment model. Significant variables, such as farmers’ locations, gender, marital status, annual temperature, annual precipitation, log of fertiliser and membership in farm-based organisation (FBO), were factors influencing the adoption of SWC among smallholder rice farmers. Factors such as age, marital status, rice experience, farm size, formal education, access to extension and labour in man-days significantly influenced the rice productivity of smallholder farmers who adopted SWC technology, while location, marital status, rice experience, farm size, formal education, access to extension and labour in man-days were the determinants of rice productivity among smallholder farmers who did not adopt SWC technology. The result from the inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment estimation indicates that the adoption of SWC technology to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change improves the productivity of rice in the study area. To ensure effective dissemination and the adoption of new conservation technologies, government and stakeholders in rice production could take the lead in promotion and dissemination in the initial stages and, in the process, create an enabling environment for the effective participation of other stakeholders in rice production.