{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/106355"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/106355","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Quantifying the effect of fall armyworms on maize yields in a resource constrained economy: A case study in Zambia","abstract":"Fall armyworm (FAW) is a voracious pest, which has ravaged maize yields in Sub-Saharan Africa since they were first reported in 2016. Their exact impact on maize yields is unclear, with a wide discrepancy in the existing estimates which suffer from potential endogeneity in self-reporting,measurement error and the lack of a standardized methodology. Studies that have attempted to measure the impact of FAW in Africa have generally found large effects.However, most these studies are constrained by using farmer perceptions and recall data, or estimate the losses using cross sectional data, raising concerns of endogeneity, since the environmental conditions conducive for maize production are also conducive for FAW infestations. This study quantifies the impact of FAW on Zambian maize yields while controlling for household fixed effects and year fixed effects on a national panel dataset covering 1,200 farmers over three years (2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 agricultural seasons). To address possible endogeneity associated with reporting, I use the average prevalence of FAW presence or intensity at the camp level as an instrument for farm FAW exposure. I find that compared to household that had no FAW infestation cases, households who had severe intensity of FAW in their surrounding camp experienced an average of 39.2 percent lower maize yields. Furthermore, the impact of FAW for households who were more likely to report they had FAW when their camp was infested, experienced 83.1 percent lower maize yields on average. These results are robust to different fixed effects specifications.Following earlier evidence from crop science, I explore the effect of planting date and the use of hybrids on FAW damage. In terms of planting date, I find planting date and the use of hybrids did not significantly influence the damage caused by FAW infestations.Quantifying of the effect of FAW on maize yield may help target government responses and enable policy makers to determine the quantity of reserve food that would be required to by farmers affected by various intensities of FAW infestations. My research suggests interventions seeking to manage FAW infestations among smallholder farmers could benefit from improving access maize hybrid seeds that are more resistant to FAW as well as encouraging farmers on the importance of early planting.","abstract_html":"Fall armyworm (FAW) is a voracious pest, which has ravaged maize yields in Sub-Saharan Africa since they were first reported in 2016. Their exact impact on maize yields is unclear, with a wide discrepancy in the existing estimates which suffer from potential endogeneity in self-reporting,measurement error and the lack of a standardized methodology. Studies that have attempted to measure the impact of FAW in Africa have generally found large effects.However, most these studies are constrained by using farmer perceptions and recall data, or estimate the losses using cross sectional data, raising concerns of endogeneity, since the environmental conditions conducive for maize production are also conducive for FAW infestations. This study quantifies the impact of FAW on Zambian maize yields while controlling for household fixed effects and year fixed effects on a national panel dataset covering 1,200 farmers over three years (2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 agricultural seasons). To address possible endogeneity associated with reporting, I use the average prevalence of FAW presence or intensity at the camp level as an instrument for farm FAW exposure. I find that compared to household that had no FAW infestation cases, households who had severe intensity of FAW in their surrounding camp experienced an average of 39.2 percent lower maize yields. Furthermore, the impact of FAW for households who were more likely to report they had FAW when their camp was infested, experienced 83.1 percent lower maize yields on average. These results are robust to different fixed effects specifications.Following earlier evidence from crop science, I explore the effect of planting date and the use of hybrids on FAW damage. In terms of planting date, I find planting date and the use of hybrids did not significantly influence the damage caused by FAW infestations.Quantifying of the effect of FAW on maize yield may help target government responses and enable policy makers to determine the quantity of reserve food that would be required to by farmers affected by various intensities of FAW infestations. My research suggests interventions seeking to manage FAW infestations among smallholder farmers could benefit from improving access maize hybrid seeds that are more resistant to FAW as well as encouraging farmers on the importance of early planting.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hadunka, Protensia"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Agricultural & Applied Econ","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Baylis, Kathy","Kuenning, Mary Arends","Michelson, Hope","McNamara, Paul","Ngumbi, Esther"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-03-02T22:12:22Z","date_published":"2020-03-02T22:12:22Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:45Z","subjects":["Fall amyworms Maize yields Intensities"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["All rights reserved to the owner"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106355","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Baylis, Kathy","Kuenning, Mary Arends","Michelson, Hope","McNamara, Paul","Ngumbi, Esther"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hadunka, Protensia"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-03-02T22:12:22Z","2022-03-03T10:15:13Z","2019-11-27","2019-12"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Agricultural & Applied Econ"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Fall amyworms Maize yields Intensities"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["All rights reserved to the owner"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106355"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Fall armyworm (FAW) is a voracious pest, which has ravaged maize yields in Sub-Saharan Africa since they were first reported in 2016. Their exact impact on maize yields is unclear, with a wide discrepancy in the existing estimates which suffer from potential endogeneity in self-reporting,measurement error and the lack of a standardized methodology. Studies that have attempted to measure the impact of FAW in Africa have generally found large effects.However, most these studies are constrained by using farmer perceptions and recall data, or estimate the losses using cross sectional data, raising concerns of endogeneity, since the environmental conditions conducive for maize production are also conducive for FAW infestations. This study quantifies the impact of FAW on Zambian maize yields while controlling for household fixed effects and year fixed effects on a national panel dataset covering 1,200 farmers over three years (2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 agricultural seasons). To address possible endogeneity associated with reporting, I use the average prevalence of FAW presence or intensity at the camp level as an instrument for farm FAW exposure. I find that compared to household that had no FAW infestation cases, households who had severe intensity of FAW in their surrounding camp experienced an average of 39.2 percent lower maize yields. Furthermore, the impact of FAW for households who were more likely to report they had FAW when their camp was infested, experienced 83.1 percent lower maize yields on average. These results are robust to different fixed effects specifications.Following earlier evidence from crop science, I explore the effect of planting date and the use of hybrids on FAW damage. In terms of planting date, I find planting date and the use of hybrids did not significantly influence the damage caused by FAW infestations.Quantifying of the effect of FAW on maize yield may help target government responses and enable policy makers to determine the quantity of reserve food that would be required to by farmers affected by various intensities of FAW infestations. My research suggests interventions seeking to manage FAW infestations among smallholder farmers could benefit from improving access maize hybrid seeds that are more resistant to FAW as well as encouraging farmers on the importance of early planting.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2021-12-01","The student, Protensia Hadunka, accepted the attached license on 2019-11-25 at 10:37.","The student, Protensia Hadunka, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2019-11-25 at 11:21.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2019-11-27 at 11:51.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #14608 on 2020-02-28 at 17:22:47","Made available in DSpace on 2020-03-02T22:12:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 HADUNKA-THESIS-2019.pdf: 1339435 bytes, checksum: 24a5a3efe8a332f866ff4e0fbe16cefd (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4214 bytes, checksum: ce840793d1082abee847c5612106656a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019-11-27","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 113896 Lift date: 2022-03-02T22:12:26Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 113896 Lift date: 2022-03-02T22:15:21Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 113896 Lift date: 2022-03-02T22:18:25Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","U of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 113896 on 2022-03-03T10:15:13Z."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Quantifying the effect of fall armyworms on maize yields in a resource constrained economy: A case study in Zambia"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Baylis, Kathy","Kuenning, Mary Arends","Michelson, Hope","McNamara, Paul","Ngumbi, Esther"],"dc:creator":["Hadunka, Protensia"],"dc:date":["2020-03-02T22:12:22Z","2022-03-03T10:15:13Z","2019-11-27","2019-12"],"dc:description":["Fall armyworm (FAW) is a voracious pest, which has ravaged maize yields in Sub-Saharan Africa since they were first reported in 2016. Their exact impact on maize yields is unclear, with a wide discrepancy in the existing estimates which suffer from potential endogeneity in self-reporting,measurement error and the lack of a standardized methodology. Studies that have attempted to measure the impact of FAW in Africa have generally found large effects.However, most these studies are constrained by using farmer perceptions and recall data, or estimate the losses using cross sectional data, raising concerns of endogeneity, since the environmental conditions conducive for maize production are also conducive for FAW infestations. This study quantifies the impact of FAW on Zambian maize yields while controlling for household fixed effects and year fixed effects on a national panel dataset covering 1,200 farmers over three years (2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 agricultural seasons). To address possible endogeneity associated with reporting, I use the average prevalence of FAW presence or intensity at the camp level as an instrument for farm FAW exposure. I find that compared to household that had no FAW infestation cases, households who had severe intensity of FAW in their surrounding camp experienced an average of 39.2 percent lower maize yields. Furthermore, the impact of FAW for households who were more likely to report they had FAW when their camp was infested, experienced 83.1 percent lower maize yields on average. These results are robust to different fixed effects specifications.Following earlier evidence from crop science, I explore the effect of planting date and the use of hybrids on FAW damage. In terms of planting date, I find planting date and the use of hybrids did not significantly influence the damage caused by FAW infestations.Quantifying of the effect of FAW on maize yield may help target government responses and enable policy makers to determine the quantity of reserve food that would be required to by farmers affected by various intensities of FAW infestations. My research suggests interventions seeking to manage FAW infestations among smallholder farmers could benefit from improving access maize hybrid seeds that are more resistant to FAW as well as encouraging farmers on the importance of early planting.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2021-12-01","The student, Protensia Hadunka, accepted the attached license on 2019-11-25 at 10:37.","The student, Protensia Hadunka, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2019-11-25 at 11:21.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2019-11-27 at 11:51.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #14608 on 2020-02-28 at 17:22:47","Made available in DSpace on 2020-03-02T22:12:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 HADUNKA-THESIS-2019.pdf: 1339435 bytes, checksum: 24a5a3efe8a332f866ff4e0fbe16cefd (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4214 bytes, checksum: ce840793d1082abee847c5612106656a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019-11-27","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 113896 Lift date: 2022-03-02T22:12:26Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 113896 Lift date: 2022-03-02T22:15:21Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 113896 Lift date: 2022-03-02T22:18:25Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","U of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 113896 on 2022-03-03T10:15:13Z."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106355"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["All rights reserved to the owner"],"dc:subject":["Fall amyworms Maize yields Intensities"],"dc:title":["Quantifying the effect of fall armyworms on maize yields in a resource constrained economy: A case study in Zambia"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Agricultural & Applied Econ"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:45Z"}