Understanding the role of institutional arrangements on innovation adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa—a case study of black soldier fly frass

Abstract While black soldier fly frass (BSFF) has the potential to be a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers, it has received little attention, especially within the agricultural economics community. This study contributes to filling this research gap by assessing: (i) vegetable farmers’ intentions to buy BSFF, (ii) the determinants of participation in institutional arrangements (IAs), such as extension access and group membership, and (iii) the impact of participation in IAs on vegetable farmers’ likelihood of intending to buy BSFF. Using cross-sectional data from 790 vegetable farmers collected in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Mali, and Niger, we found that about 63 per cent of the farmers intended to buy BSFF across countries, and about 84 per cent in Niger, 67 per cent in Ghana, 62 per cent in DRC, and 47 per cent in Mali. The multinomial endogenous treatment effect (METE) results show that vegetable farmers’ likelihood of intending to buy BSFF increases by 5 to 6 percentage points with extension access only, and by less than 1 percentage point with group membership only. When farmers simultaneously have access to extension services and are members of farmers’ groups, the probability of intending to buy BSFF is 8 percentage points higher. These results suggest the need to strengthen institutional arrangements for scaling up circular Bioeconomy-based technologies in sub-Saharan Africa.