Weather and climate information and agricultural productivity in Rwanda
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Final Report Apell May 2023.pdf
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- Climate change poses an immediate and inevitable future challenge for Least Developed Countries whose economies depend on rain-fed agriculture. However, few studies have investigated the role of Weather and Climate Information Systems (WCIS) in boosting resilience to weather shocks.
- This study evaluates the treatment effect of Rwanda's national WCIS on intensification practices and farm productivity.
- The study uses cross-sectional data from Rwanda's EICV5 survey and addresses selection bias using Propensity Score Matching. WCIS has a positive and statistically significant treatment effect on adopting intensive practices but no impact on productivity.
- Further analysis suggests that the role of Rwanda's WCIS in agriculture adaptation to climate change can be enhanced by improving the quality of information disseminated to farmers.