MAIZE OF THE ANCESTORS AND MODERN VARIETIES - THE MICROECONOMICS OF HIGH-YIELDING VARIETY ADOPTION IN MALAWI

Two distinctive features of maize technology adoption in Malawi are land allocation to both farmers' and hybrid maize varieties; and application of a modern input (fertilizer) to a traditional (farmers') variety. Microeconomic theory provides four theoretical explanations for farmers' land allocation to both new and old varieties. This study treated the four approaches as special cases of one general theoretical model, and tested empirically the importance of each explanation in the land allocation decision. The results are broadly consistent with the idea that consumption preferences, as expressed in a safety-first subsistence framework, and learning behaviour affect land allocation and fertilizer application to hybrid maize. Farmers' perceptions of relative yield variance affect the hybrid maize area they plant and the fertilizer they apply to hybrid maize. -from Authors