Non-Traditional Crops, Traditional Constraints : The Adoption and Diffusion of Export Crops Among Guatemalan Smallholders

Carletto, Calogero ; Kirk, Angeli ; Winters, Paul ; Davis, Benjamin

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO CREDIT;    AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE;    AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;    AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION;    AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4347
RP-ID  :  WPS4347

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper uses a duration analysisbased on adoption data spanning more than 25 years from sixcommunities in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. Theanalysis explores how household characteristics and externaltrends play into both the adoption and diffusion processesof non-traditional exports among smallholders. Adoption wasinitially widespread and rapid, which led nontraditionalexports to be hailed as a pro-poor success, reaching all butthe smallest landholders.However, over time more thantwo-thirds of adopters eventually dropped out of productionof nontraditional exports. Based on the analysis, productionof nontraditional exports appears to have delivered lessprosperity to adopters than initially promised.Althoughsmallholders may be enticed into entering intonontraditional exports markets when conditions arefavorable, they may lack the capacity to overcome thedifficulties that inevitably arise in complex types ofcultivations and in highly variable global agriculturalmarkets. Governmental and non-governmental organizations canattempt to mitigate these difficulties, but market forcesmay overwhelm their efforts, with some adopters still unableto compete in global markets.