Replication Data for: "Documenting the adoption of Conservation Agriculture and Agroforestry in Malawi and Zambia"

This study provides a comprehensive cross-country understanding of the determinants of the adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) practices and agroforestry, as well as empirical evidence on their impacts on productivity in Malawi and Zambia. Using unique panel data sets from geo-referenced agricultural household surveys combined with long-term climatic data on rainfall, temperature and soil properties, we model farmers’ adoption decisions for multiple practices simultaneously in order to capture the complementarities and/or substitutabilities among the different technologies controlling for the effect of both climatic risk factors and household-specific time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity. Furthermore, we also estimate the empirical association between the adoption of practices and the maize productivity, as well as the value of the production, taking into account potential confounders related to climate shocks, household characteristics, bio-physical soil characteristics, agro-ecological heterogeneity and government programs and institutions relevant for smallholder farmer production. The empirical analysis allows us to identify some lessons that are valid across the two countries. Our findings highlight the importance of promoting flexible technology packages that suit site-specific (climatic, agro-ecological and socio-economic) conditions in order to facilitate adoption and increase agricultural productivity and profitability.