Impact of Improved Maize Seed Adoption on Farm Yield in Benue State, Nigeria

This study examines the impact of improved maize seed varieties (IMVs) on farm yield among smallholder Benue state, Nigeria and identifies key determinants of adoption. Benue State is often referred to as “Food Basket”, but has an average yield of less than 2 tons per hectare, compared to 8-10 tons per hectare that can be achieved under improved technologies. While previous nationally representative studies disguise local heterogeneity, this study focuses specifically on Benue State using primary cross-sectional data from 205 maize farmers. However, minimizing selection bias was carried out by matching adopters and non-adopters with similar observable characteristics and this method was introduced by using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to estimate the causal impact of improved maize seed varieties (IMVs) adoption on maize yield. Nearest Neighbour Matching is used to compute the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET), with robustness checks using Radius and Kernel Matching. The results indicated that IMV adoption is significantly determined by gender (heads of male household), formal education, use of fertilizer, irrigation access, members of cooperative, and extension contact, emphasizing the significant roles of human capital, complementary inputs, as well as institutional support. Afterwards, the control of observable differences through matching led adopters to achieving a yield gain of 0.399 log-units which is relative to non-adopters that were not matched, and this is equivalent to 49% increase in output per hectare. The robustness across alternative matching algorithms is effective, compared with national-level evidence reporting a 38.7% yield increase [11]. Our finding suggests that the productivity of premium for IMVs may be greater in regions like Benue. The reliability of this treatment effect is confirmed using alternative matching algorithms in Robustness checks. Conclusively, the study of IMVs full potential is limited by inadequate access to quality seeds, complimentary inputs, funds, and gender-specific interventions.