Crop switching as a strategy for adapting to climate change

This paper examines the impact of climate change on primary crops grown in Africa. An innovative approach is presented that bridges the gap between agro-economic and traditional Ricardian models. We label it a ‘structural Ricardian model’. It first captures the type of crop a farmer will select and then examines the conditional net revenue of that crop. The model is estimated using a sample of over 5000 farmers across 11 countries in Africa. The analysis finds that farmers shift the crops they plant to match the climate they face. Studies that fail to account for crop switching will overestimate the damages from climate change and underestimate the benefits.