Nber working paper series bundling genetic and financial technologies for more resilient and productive small-scale agriculture

We utilize a multi-year randomized controlled trial spanning two African countries to explore whether complementarities between two risk management technologies–stress tolerant seeds and index insurance–can promote a more resilient, higher productivity small farm sector. We find that, by themselves, drought tolerant maize seeds mitigate the adverse impacts of mid-season drought, while farmers with access to both drought tolerant seeds and index insurance show greater resilience and intensify production in seasons following a shock. Our findings showcase important complementarities between these risk mitigating technologies and the crucial role learning plays in tapping their benefits to small farmers. Stephen R. Boucher University of California, Davis boucher@primal.ucdavis.edu Michael R. Carter Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics University of California, Davis One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616 and NBER mrcarter@ucdavis.edu Jon Einar Flatnes Chr. Michelsen Institute Jekteviksbakken 31 5006 Bergen Norway joneinar.flatnes@cmi.no Travis J. Lybbert Agricultural and Resources Economics University of California, Davis 1 Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616 tlybbert@ucdavis.edu Jonathan G. Malacarne The University of Maine jonathan.malacarne@maine.edu Paswel Marenya ICRAF House UN Avenue, Girgiri Nairobi, Kenya p.marenya@gmail.com Laura A. Paul Department of Applied Economics & Statistics 531 South College Avenue Newark, DE 19716 lpaul@udel.edu