Replication Data for: Adoption of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Malawi

Adoption of interrelated conservation agriculture technologies is increasing in Malawi in response to continued negative impacts of drought stress and soil nutrient depletion on food security. We generate evidence on factors influencing adoption and adoption intensity of maize-legume intercropping and organic manure using four-round panel data collected from six districts in central and southern Malawi. We find an increase in adoption from 33% in 2006 to 76% in 2015 for maize-legume intercropping and from 30% (2006) to 53% (2015) for organic manure. Using parametric and non-parametric methods the paper reveals that exposure to dry spells increases the likelihood of adoption and adoption intensity of maize-legume intercropping and organic manure as climate-resilient technologies. Population density and residence in southern region – a region with highest population density increases the likelihood of adopting land-saving technology such as intercropping. While legume price increases the probability of adopting both intercropping and manure and intensity of maize-legume intercropping, distance to markets and maize price, respectively, decreases adoption intensity and likelihood of adopting organic manure. We also find complementarity relationship between organic manure and inorganic fertilizer but farmers make systematic tradeoff as fertilizer price increases beyond a saddle point. We discuss the implications of these findings in this paper.