The Impact of Technology Adoption on Agricultural Productivity: The Case of the Dominican Republic

This paper evaluates the impact of agricultural extension services in the Dominican Republic. In particular, we analyze the direct impact of the Program for Technological Support in the Agricultural Sector (PATCA). The analysis relies on a unique dataset gathered by PATCA’s executing unit in 2008. The survey included 1,572 farmers operating in crop growing, breeding or milk production. Using a propensity score matching technique, we found that the technologies financed through PATCA effectively improved the productivity of rice producers and breeders. However, we did not find any significant impact on other producers. These heterogeneous impacts could be due to the different level of effectiveness of the promoted technologies in the short run, where landleveling and pasture conservation could be the fastest in showing significant effects. Finally, we did not find any clear evidence that the program had a significant impact on the quality of production that was reflected on prices reported by farmers.

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