Abstract

This study analysed the impact of GM TELA® MON89034 Bt maize technology adoption on the welfare of smallholder maize farmers in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces in South Africa. Descriptive statistics results indicated that TELA® Bt maize yielded 61.1% more output compared to conventional maize varieties. The gross margin analysis showed higher incomes for the TELA® Bt maize farmers (R2, 834.93 ha-1) compared with R2,124.96 ha-1 for the conventional maize farmers. The Propensity Score Matching and the Probit model revealed that gender, number of years in farming, credit access, and market access had a positive and significant influence on the framers’ decision to adopt TELA® Bt maize seed technology, while access to extension services was found to have a negative and significant impact on the adoption of TELA® Bt maize seed. The Average Treatment Effect of the Treated (ATT), using the Nearest Neighbour Matching algorithm indicated that adoption of TELA® Bt. maize technology had a significant and positive impact on yield and income by 33 to 61%. The study recommends increased awareness on benefits of TELA® Bt seed technology to farmers, especially gender awareness through training, access to credit, and ownership of assets, to ensure equity between women and men on access to production resources and decision-making, because of the significant role of women in the maize value chain.

Key words: Adopters, income, propensity score matching, smallholder farmers, TELA® Bt maize, yield.