Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia
Despite enthusiasm around applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to smallholder agriculture in many lower-income countries, there are still many questions on the effectiveness of ICT-based approaches. This study assesses the impacts of video-mediated agricultural extensio...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2023
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140026 |
| _version_ | 1855519241861595136 |
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| author | Abate, Gashaw T. Bernard, Tanguy Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. |
| author_browse | Abate, Gashaw T. Bernard, Tanguy Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. |
| author_facet | Abate, Gashaw T. Bernard, Tanguy Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. |
| author_sort | Abate, Gashaw T. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Despite enthusiasm around applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to smallholder agriculture in many lower-income countries, there are still many questions on the effectiveness of ICT-based approaches. This study assesses the impacts of video-mediated agricultural extension service provision on farmers’ adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices in Ethiopia using data from a two-year randomized experiment. Our results show that the video-mediated extension approach significantly increases uptake of recommended technologies and practices by improving extension access and farmer knowledge. Specifically, we find that video-mediated extension reaches a wider audience than the government’s conventional extension approach and leads to higher levels of farmer understanding and uptake of the subject technologies in those locations randomly assigned to the program. While our results also point to greater extension access and greater knowledge among female spouses in locations where both male and female spouses were targeted by the program, we do not find clear evidence that a more inclusive approach translates into higher uptake of the subject technologies. Finally, we find that the video-mediated approach becomes less costly as the scale of operation increases. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace140026 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1400262025-10-26T13:02:00Z Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia Abate, Gashaw T. Bernard, Tanguy Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. costs crop management gender agricultural extension farmers smallholders government innovation adoption developing countries experimentation information and communication technologies Despite enthusiasm around applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to smallholder agriculture in many lower-income countries, there are still many questions on the effectiveness of ICT-based approaches. This study assesses the impacts of video-mediated agricultural extension service provision on farmers’ adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices in Ethiopia using data from a two-year randomized experiment. Our results show that the video-mediated extension approach significantly increases uptake of recommended technologies and practices by improving extension access and farmer knowledge. Specifically, we find that video-mediated extension reaches a wider audience than the government’s conventional extension approach and leads to higher levels of farmer understanding and uptake of the subject technologies in those locations randomly assigned to the program. While our results also point to greater extension access and greater knowledge among female spouses in locations where both male and female spouses were targeted by the program, we do not find clear evidence that a more inclusive approach translates into higher uptake of the subject technologies. Finally, we find that the video-mediated approach becomes less costly as the scale of operation increases. 2023-01 2024-03-14T12:08:50Z 2024-03-14T12:08:50Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140026 en Open Access Elsevier Abate, Gashaw Tadesse; Bernard, Tanguy; Makhija, Simrin; and Spielman, David J. 2022. Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia. World Development 161 (January 2023): 106089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106089 |
| spellingShingle | costs crop management gender agricultural extension farmers smallholders government innovation adoption developing countries experimentation information and communication technologies Abate, Gashaw T. Bernard, Tanguy Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia |
| title | Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia |
| title_full | Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia |
| title_fullStr | Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia |
| title_short | Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia |
| title_sort | accelerating technical change through ict evidence from a video mediated extension experiment in ethiopia |
| topic | costs crop management gender agricultural extension farmers smallholders government innovation adoption developing countries experimentation information and communication technologies |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140026 |
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