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Abstract
This article examines the effect of membership in farmer groups (MFG) on the adoption lag of
agricultural technologies and farm performance in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi
and Rwanda. We use duration and stochastic production frontier models on farm household
data. We find that long period of MFG reduces adoption lag and much more so if combined with
sustainable extension service delivery from government or development agencies. Farmer
groups function as an important mechanism for improving farm productivity through reduced
technical inefficiency in input use. We discuss the policy implications under which farmer groups
are a useful channel to reduce adoption lag, and by what means improved farm performance can
be achieved.