Climate change is increasingly transforming agricultural systems globally, with its impacts borne disproportionately across regions owing to variations in adaptive capacity. This paper investigates how Climate Physical Risk (CPR) influences agricultural technology adoption (ATA) in Africa, with a particular focus on highland and lowland countries. The method of moment quantile regression with fixed effects is employed, and panel data analysis is conducted for an aggregate sample comprising 43 African nations, a highland sample (17 nations), and a lowland sample (26 nations) over the period 2000–2023. The findings reveal that CPR has a positive impact on ATA in Africa, with the magnitude in lowland countries approximately four times larger than in highland nations. Additionally, the effects are weaker at the lower quantiles than at the upper quantiles, indicating an asymmetric impact whereby country-year observations with lower ATA are less responsive to CPR compared to those with higher levels of ATA. Furthermore, renewable energy exerts a significant positive impact on ATA, highlighting its role in enabling off-grid agricultural innovations. However, regulatory quality and access to credit exhibit a limited role in driving ATA in Africa. This paper offers crucial implications for policymakers, farmers, practitioners, and other stakeholders in agriculture and climate adaptation.
Msofe et al. (Wed,) studied this question.