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Abstract
This paper uses a double hurdle regression analysis to estimate the factors influencing marketing
decisions among potato growers in the central highlands of Angola, focusing on gender of
household head, productive asset ownership and transaction costs. Although the results suggest
that the quantity produced is exogenous in the models for market participation and for quantity
sold, the methodology used provides a framework for others to follow when endogeneity is
suspected in one or more variables. The wealth analysis suggests that potato growers, potato
sellers and male heads were richer than their counterparts. The linear regression results on
quantity produced suggest that female-headed households produced less than their male
counterparts, owning productive assets or having access to public assets had no statistical effect
on production, and that farmers who used fertilizer produced more than farmers who didn’t apply
fertilizer to their fields. The double hurdle regression results suggest that (1) male-headed
households were more likely to sell potatoes, (2) owning productive assets and having access to
government extension services, conditional on market participation, positively affected the
quantity sold, (3) transaction costs, conditional on market participation, negatively affected the
quantity sold, and (4) quantity produced was a marginally significant positive factor on both the
likelihood of selling potatoes and the quantity sold. In contrast, the unconditional average partial
effects suggest that, (1) potato sales were gender neutral, (2) owning productive assets had no
statistical effect on quantity sold, (3) transaction costs negatively affected the quantity sold, and
(4) having access to extension services and the quantity produced both positively affected the
quantity sold. Thus, to boost sales, investments may be needed to promote farmer participation in
organizations and/or establish farmer organizations in villages without them, increase farmers’
access to extension services, invest in infrastructure, and help farmers increase their production.