Effect of agroforestry technology on yield of maize in Sapoba Forest Reserve, Orhionmwon Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract Enhancing crop yield through the adoption of fertility and eco-system enhancing agricultural technologies is an important step towards a sustainable food production system among rural farming households in developing countries. The study was therefore conducted using cross-sectional data from smallholder farming households to assess the effect of agroforestry technology on the yield of maize in Sapoba forest reserve in Orhionmwon Local Government area of Edo State, Nigeria. We correct for endogeneity in adoption and employ instrumental variables analysis to investigate the effect of adoption of the technology on the yield of maize. Our analysis shows that the adoption of the technology had positive and significant effect on the yield of maize in the study area. This finding provides empirical evidence that the yield of maize among smallholder maize farmers can be raised through the use of agroforestry technology.