and Γ3 in the first column indicate that with respect to non-adopters, all adopter categories are more likely to reside in a dwelling with improved walls by 2005. The differences among adopter groups, however, are not statistically significant. Finally, the likelihood of having access to an improved cooking facility is significantly higher among leavers compared to non-adopters.<sup>32</sup>

# 7 CONCLUSION

This paper is a recent and unique contribution to the literature on the impact of non-traditional export crop adoption on household welfare. Different from the studies that have so far used cross-sectional data and focused on the _short-term_ impacts of interest, we employ a unique panel data set that spans 20 years (1985-2005) and allows us to control for the non-random nature of NTX adoption in order to estimate the _long-term_ impact of snow pea cultivation on household consumption status and asset position in Guatemala’s Santiago Sacatepéquez municipality. Due to the dramatic changes in the agricultural and socio-economic make-up of the surveyed communities throughout the last 2 decades and the heterogeneity in NTX cultivation histories, we explore the heterogeneity of impact based on a classification of households that takes into account the timing and duration of snow pea adoption.

With robust foreign demand for NTXs and extensive financial, marketing, and technical support provided by the _Cuatro Pinos_ cooperative, the area under investigation experienced a significant boom in NTX production in the 1980s. Snow pea cultivation, at the onset, translated into substantial improvements in consumption levels and noteworthy positive spillovers in staple food production among adopters. However, throughout the 1990s, a wide range of agronomic, market-based, and institutional problems led to a significant drop in the profitability of snow pea production, causing a sizeable number of smaller and resource-poor farmers to withdraw from export crop production and raising concerns about the sustainability of the development impact of NTX production in the long run.

In line with the _medium-term_ expectations and the recent qualitative evidence on the association of snow pea adoption paths and changes in household welfare and livelihood strategies, we find that while consumption status improved for all household groups in the surveyed communities between 1985 and 2005, the extent of improvement among long-term adopters, i.e. those that adopted early and stayed on until 2005, was lower when compared with the changes experienced by non-adopters. Conversely, early adopters who withdrew from snow pea production by the early 1990s and increased their reliance on off-farm income sources have shown the largest improvements in durable asset position and housing conditions with respect to both stayers and non-adopters.

Fischer and Benson’s (2005) qualitative study offers interesting insights to understand the rationale for continued NTX production, particularly among early adopters that enjoyed the most rewarding era of export crop production in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. According to the authors, growers tend to rationalize their continued involvement in the NTX cultivation in the midst of high production and marketing risks by referring to the higher potential rates of return in

> 32 When we differentiate between leavers and stayers among the late adopters, and estimate regressions of various dwelling characteristics, the positive impact of late adoption on the likelihood of residing in a dwelling with cement walls is driven by the late adopter stayers.

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