We examine smallholder farmers’ willingness to pay for agricultural technology and whether information is a constraint to adoption of certified maize seed in Northern Uganda. The uptake of improved maize varieties by smallholder farmers in Uganda remains persistently low, despite the higher yield potential compared to traditional varieties. A recently growing body of literature identifies information constraints as a potential barrier to adoption of agricultural technologies. We used incentive compatible Becker‐DeGroot‐Marschak auctions to elicit willingness to pay for quality assured improved maize seed by 1,009 smallholder farmers, and conducted a randomised evaluation to test the effect of an information intervention on farmers’ knowledge of seed certification. Our results show that the randomised information treatment enhanced farmers’ knowledge of certified seed. However, using the information treatment as an instrumental variable for knowledge, we find no evidence of a causal effect of knowledge on willingness to pay, suggesting that even though farmers are information constrained, this constraint does not affect adoption of certified seed directly. Nevertheless, only 14% of sampled farmers were willing to pay the market price, which corresponds closely with actual observed demand for certified seed in the previous season. This suggests that there are other barriers to adoption than information and awareness.

中文翻译：

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采用农业技术的信息壁垒：愿意为乌干达北部的一个开放授粉玉米品种的认证种子付款

我们研究了小农户购买农业技术的意愿，以及信息是否对乌干达北部采用认证玉米种子构成限制。尽管与传统品种相比单产潜力更高，但乌干达的小农户对改良玉米品种的吸收仍然持续较低。最近越来越多的文献认为信息限制是采用农业技术的潜在障碍。我们使用了激励性兼容的Becker-DeGroot-Marschak拍卖，以激发愿意为1,009个小农户购买质量保证的改良玉米种子的意愿，并进行了随机评估，以测试信息干预对农民的种子认证知识的影响。我们的结果表明，随机信息处理增强了农民对认证种子的了解。但是，使用信息处理作为知识的工具变量，我们没有发现知识对支付意愿的因果关系的证据，这表明即使农民受到信息约束，该约束也不会直接影响采用认证种子。但是，只有14％的抽样农民愿意支付市场价格，这与上个季节实际观察到的对认证种子的需求非常接近。这表明，除了信息和意识之外，采用技术还有其他障碍。这表明即使农民受到信息的限制，这种限制也不会直接影响认证种子的采用。但是，只有14％的抽样农民愿意支付市场价格，这与上个季节实际观察到的对认证种子的需求非常接近。这表明，除了信息和意识之外，采用技术还有其他障碍。这表明即使农民受到信息的限制，这种限制也不会直接影响认证种子的采用。但是，只有14％的抽样农民愿意支付市场价格，这与上个季节实际观察到的对认证种子的需求非常接近。这表明，除了信息和意识之外，采用技术还有其他障碍。