The study uses the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture to evaluate mobile phone ownership’s direct and indirect effect on yields in Tanzania. The results indicate that transitioning from not owning to owning a mobile phone improves maize yields by about 16%. Mobile phones indirectly affect maize yield by facilitating farmers’ access to extension services – regardless of the type of provider – but only account for about 2% of the total effects. Considering both direct and indirect effects, this study suggests that extension services partially moderate this causal relationship. Further, the impact of mobile phones is stronger among male-headed farm households.

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of participation in the land rental market on smallholder farmers’ commercialization using farm household panel data in Tigrai, Ethiopia. Regression results reveal that 1 hectare increase in area rented in by tenant households leads to a 60% increase in the likelihood of participation in the output market as a crop seller and increases the marketed output sold by tenant households by US$ 200/year. The results appear to indicate that land rental market in the land scarcity economy to some extent contributes positively in the facilitation of transformation toward smallholders’ commercialization.