@article{Benin:348596,
      recid = {348596},
      author = {Benin, S. and Smale, M.  and Pender, J.  and Gebremedhin,  B.  and Ehui, S.},
      title = {The economic determinants of cereal crop diversity on  farms in the Ethiopian highlands},
      journal = {Agricultural Economics: The Journal of the International  Association of Agricultural Economists},
      address = {2004-11-2},
      number = {968-2024-5276},
      month = {Nov},
      year = {2004},
      abstract = {In less favoured areas such as the highlands of Ethiopia,  farmers manage risk through land allocation to crops and  varieties since they cannot depend on market mechanisms to  cope. They also grow traditional varieties that are  genetically diverse and have potential social value.  Supporting the maintenance of crop and variety diversity in  such locations can address both the current needs of  farmers and future needs of society, though it entails  numerous policy challenges. We estimate a model of crop and  variety choice in a theoretical framework of the farm  household model to compare the determinants of crop and  variety diversity, revealing some of these policy  considerations. Farm physical features and household  characteristics such as wealth and labour stocks have large  and significant effects on both the diversity among and  within cereal crops, varying among crops. Policies designed  to encourage variety diversity in one cereal crop may have  opposing effects in another crop. Trade-offs between  development-related factors and diversity in this  resource-poor system are not evident, however.  Market-related variables and population density have  ambiguous effects. Education positively influences cereal  crop diversity. Growing modern varieties of maize or wheat  does not detract from the richness or evenness of these  cereals on household farms.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/348596},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.348596},
}