The project investigates to which extent differentials in the uptake of digital extension services affect wealth distribution among farming households in Nigeria, with particular consideration of gender as a moderating variable. Agriculture continues to be a bedrock of Nigeria's economy, accounting for a sizeable share of the gross domestic product (GDP), and serving as an important source of rural livelihoods. Digital extension services, which provide timely information on best practices, market conditions, and climate adaptation, may have the capacity to substantially improve agricultural productivity. But longstanding inequalities in access, arising from factors such as gender, low digital literacy, lack of financial means, and socio-cultural barriers, may create differential socio-economic benefits.
In addressing this issue, the project employs data from the 2023/2024 Nigeria General Household Survey Panel and uses a two-stage empirical approach. In the first stage, Propensity Score Matching (PSM) is applied to mitigate observable selection bias by matching households based on important characteristics and estimating the average treatment effect on the uptake of digital extension services. In the second stage, the project employs an instrumental variable (IV) regression using instruments such as the distance to the nearest ICT centre to deal with endogeneity coming from unobserved factors. Gender-disaggregated analysis further explores differences in asset accumulation and income generation between male- and female-headed households. The study anticipates robust evidence on causal linkages between digital extension services and wealth distribution, which would point to a need for gender-sensitive policies. Ultimately, the study will inform targeted programmes that can improve women's access to digital tools for equitable and sustainable rural economic development in Nigeria.
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Dr Abdulrazaq Kamal Daudu
University of Ilorin (Nigeria) | Gender and Development Studies
Abdulrazaq Kamal Daudu is a senior lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development at the University of Ilorin (Nigeria). His research examines how gender, digital technologies, agricultural innovations, and policy interventions shape rural livelihoods, food security, and welfare outcomes in developing countries, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa. He specialises in gender and development, digital agriculture, agricultural extension, climate-smart agriculture, and rural transformation. His recent work focuses on digital extension services, e-commerce platforms, digital financial inclusion, climate-smart agricultural practices, land governance, and the welfare impacts of agricultural policies. Through the application of advanced quantitative methods and impact evaluation techniques, he investigates pathways for enhancing the resilience and productivity of smallholder farmers, women, and youth in agrifood systems.
Abdulrazaq Kamal Daudu has published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the Pan-African Network for Economic Analysis of Policies (PANAP), the Agriculture and Applied Economics Association (AAEA), the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE), and the French Association of Development Economics (AFEDEV). He was a visiting researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute (Sweden) and a research fellow at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria.
Website
https://aerd.agriculture.unilorin.edu.ng/staffmember/dr-daudu-kamal-abdulrazaq/
Prof. Jakob Kapeller
University of Duisburg-Essen | Socio-Economics
E-mail: jakob.kapeller@uni-due.de
Prof. Jakob Kapeller
University of Duisburg-Essen | Socio-Economics
E-mail: jakob.kapeller@uni-due.de
Jakob Kapeller is a philosopher who has accidentally become an economist. He serves as a professor at the Institute for Socio-Economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen and heads the Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy (ICAE) at Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria). His research interests focus on socio-economic change from a political economy perspective, the history of economic and political ideas, the philosophy of the social sciences, distributional issues and heterodox economics.
Jakob Kapeller has published widely in different disciplinary contexts. His work has been featured in journals such as Research Policy, Socio-Economic Review, Review of International Political Economy and Cambridge Journal of Economics. He received several academic awards, including the William Kapp Prize (awarded by the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy, EAEPE), the Egon Matzner Prize (awarded by the Technical University Vienna) and the Kurt Rothschild Prize (awarded by the Austrian Parliament). He also acts as a reviewer for a series of internationally recognised journals and has been the editor of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter (www.heterodoxnews.com) since 2013. Some of his third-party-funded work – e.g., his papers on the distribution of wealth in Austria or his analysis of the role of economic models in European fiscal governance – has been extensively covered by national and international media.
Website