We use a field experiment to identify how differences in preferences and autonomy in decision-making result in sub-optimal adoption of technologies that can maximize the welfare of all members of the household. We create income-earning opportunities to empower subjects and elicit their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for improved cookstoves through a real stove purchase experiment with randomly chosen wives, husbands and couples. Experimental results suggest that women, who often are responsible for cooking and for collecting fuelwood, reveal a higher preference than men for the improved stoves.

Open access post-harvest grazing is widespread in mixed crop-livestock systems. This discourages conservation agriculture, which depends on keeping the soil surface covered with crop residues. One way to reduce open access grazing is through restricting communal grazing access to allow rights of exclusion, while simultaneously improving the production of livestock feeds. This paper analyzes farmers’ perceptions about postharvest free grazing on agricultural lands and identifies incentives that motivate forage production, to help inform forage development and policy.

The completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will usher in a new era of complexity in both water management and politics in the Nile Basin. The outcomes that will  aterialize for Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt will depend on climatic conditions that are inherently unpredictable and on water management actions taken in each country. We use selected historical flow sequences that represent average, high and low flow conditions, and a calibrated Nile simulation model of reservoir operation to construct illustrative scenarios for GERD filling and operation.

The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the impact of a climate-smart agricultural practice (row planting) on the welfare of rural households. Data collected from 260 households in Gubalafto woreda of Amhara region in Ethiopia were analyzed using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and a Semi-parametric Local Instrumental Variable (LIV) version of the generalized Roy model. The results from the PSM model revealed that adoption of row planting technology has a positive and significant impact on per capita consumption and on crop income per hectare.