Conditional Cash Transfers and Agricultural Production: Lessons from the Oportunidades Experience in Mexico

This paper explores whether cash transfer programmes conditioned on human capital outcomes can influence agricultural production. Programme impact on food consumption from own production, land use, livestock ownership, and agricultural spending are evaluated using first difference and weighted estimators, in which weights are constructed from propensity scores. The programme is found to increase the value and variety of food consumed from own production and to increase land use, livestock ownership and crop spending. Impact estimates are found to differ across land use categories and PROCAMPO participation. Results support the hypothesis that transfers influence agricultural production and impacts are greater for households invested in agriculture.