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2. Learning from experts and peer farmers about rice production: experimental evidence from Cote d’Ivoire
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Takahashi, Kazushi (author), Mano, Yukichi (author), and Otsuka, Keijiro (author)
- Format:
- Journal article abstract
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10534
- Journal Title:
- World Development
- Journal Title Details:
- 122: 157-169
- Notes:
- Abstract via online journal. 2 pages., Technological innovation is vital to economic growth and food security in sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural productivity has been stagnant for a long time. Extension services and learning from peer farmers are two common approaches to facilitate the diffusion of new technologies, but little is known about their relative effectiveness. Selection bias, whereby well-motivated training participants would perform better even without extension services, as well as knowledge spillovers, where non-participants can indirectly benefit from extension services, are among the major threats to causal inference. Using a unique sequential randomized experiment on agricultural training, this study attempts to meet the dual objectives of executing rigorous impact evaluation of extension services and subsequent spillovers on rice production in Cote d’Ivoire. Specifically, to reduce selection bias, we randomly assigned eligibility for training participation; and to satisfy the stable unit treatment value assumption, control-group farmers were initially restricted from exchanging information with treated-group farmers who had received rice management training. Once some positive impacts were confirmed, information exchange between the treated and control farmers was encouraged. We found that the initial performance gaps created by the randomized assignment disappeared over time, due presumably to social learning from peer farmers. A detailed analysis concerning the information network and peer effects provided suggestive evidence that there were information and technology spillovers from treated to control farmers after removing the information exchange restriction. Overall, our study demonstrates that information dissemination by farmers can be as effective in improving practices as the initial training provided by extension services.
3. Switching up climate-smart agriculture adoption: Do "green" subsidies, insurance, risk aversion and impatience matter?
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ngoma, Hambulo (author), Mason-Wardell, Nichole M. (author), Samboko, Paul C. (author), and Hangoma, Peter (author)
- Format:
- Research summary
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- Zambia: Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 166 Document Number: D11674
- Notes:
- 4 pages., Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy, Research Paper 164., Using games, researchers tested the hypothesis that innate behavioral traits such as risk and time preferences play a role in Zambia farmers' decisions about adoption of Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices. "Given our findings that more risk-averse individuals are less likely to adopt CSA, a practice that is intended to be risk-reducing, a key policy implication is the need for a retooling of both public and private extension services to better demonstrate and educate farmers on the risk-reducing effect of CSA practices such as conservation agriculture. Moreover, if insurance and subsidies are to be used successfully to nudge adoption, extension will need to educate farmers on the structure of and mechanisms of payouts. This is important to build trust in the incentive systems.
4. Variety awareness, nutrition knowledge and adoption of nutritionally enhanced crop varieties: evidence from Kenya
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Muthini, Davis Nguthi (author), Nzuma, Jonathan Makau (author), and Nyikal, Rose Adhiambo (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- Kenya
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 131 Document Number: D11328
- Journal Title:
- African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
- Journal Title Details:
- 14(4) : 225-237
- Notes:
- Online via AgEconSearch., Authors evaluated the impact of varietal awareness and nutrition knowledge on their adoption of biofortified crop varieties. Findings suggested that farmers who had knowledge of the nutritional attributes of a specific variety of beans were more likely to adopt them.