Adoption of Soil Conservation Technologies in El Salvador: A Cross-Section and Over-Time Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of adoption of soil conservation technologies among farmers participating in the Environmental Program of El Salvador (PAES). A sample of PAES participants was surveyed in 2002, from which a sub-sample was re-surveyed in 2005 along with a control group of non-participating households. The methodology included two adoption models (Conservation Practices and Conservation Structures) using two separate samples (PAES beneficiaries 2002-2005 and beneficiaries-control group 2005), and two probit models were estimated to examine the disadoption of practices and structures using the 2002-2005 data for PAES beneficiaries. The outcome was PAES beneficiaries have increased significantly the area treated with conservation between 2002 and 2005. This working paper is one of three evaluations commissioned by OVE on the impact of the Programa Ambiental de El Salvador (PAES), as a stand-alone product in the office's 2005-2006 ex-post evaluation cycle.