Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda
Agricultural advisory services generally rely on interpersonal knowledge transfers by agricultural extension agents who visit farmers to provide information. This approach is not always effective and has proved hard to scale sustainably, particularly in highly dispersed smallholder farming systems....
| Autores principales: | , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
2021
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142325 |
| _version_ | 1855533285888753664 |
|---|---|
| author | Van Campenhout, Bjorn Spielman, David J. Lecoutere, Els |
| author_browse | Lecoutere, Els Spielman, David J. Van Campenhout, Bjorn |
| author_facet | Van Campenhout, Bjorn Spielman, David J. Lecoutere, Els |
| author_sort | Van Campenhout, Bjorn |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Agricultural advisory services generally rely on interpersonal knowledge transfers by agricultural extension agents who visit farmers to provide information. This approach is not always effective and has proved hard to scale sustainably, particularly in highly dispersed smallholder farming systems. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been advanced as a promising way to overcome many of the problems associated with conventional agricultural extension. We evaluate the effectiveness of an ICT‐mediated approach to deliver agricultural information in a field experiment conducted among small‐scale maize farmers in eastern Uganda. Three complementary technologies designed to address both informational and behavioral constraints to technical change are considered. First, we investigate the effectiveness of audiovisual messages (video) as a means of delivering information on input use and improved maize management practices to farmers. Second, we quantify the additional impact of complementing video with an interactive voice response (IVR) service. Third, we estimate the incremental effect of time‐sensitive short message services (SMS) messages designed to remind farmers about applying key practices at specific points during the season. We find that households that were shown a short video on how to become better maize farmers were performing significantly better on a knowledge test, more likely to apply recommended practices, and more likely to use fertilizer than households that did not view the video. These same households also reported maize yields about 10.5% higher than those that did not view the video. We find little evidence of an incremental effect of the IVR service or SMS reminders. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace142325 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Agricultural and Applied Economics Association |
| publisherStr | Agricultural and Applied Economics Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1423252025-02-24T06:49:35Z Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda Van Campenhout, Bjorn Spielman, David J. Lecoutere, Els fertilizers agricultural extension technology maize capacity development agriculture smallholders information and communication technologies information Agricultural advisory services generally rely on interpersonal knowledge transfers by agricultural extension agents who visit farmers to provide information. This approach is not always effective and has proved hard to scale sustainably, particularly in highly dispersed smallholder farming systems. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been advanced as a promising way to overcome many of the problems associated with conventional agricultural extension. We evaluate the effectiveness of an ICT‐mediated approach to deliver agricultural information in a field experiment conducted among small‐scale maize farmers in eastern Uganda. Three complementary technologies designed to address both informational and behavioral constraints to technical change are considered. First, we investigate the effectiveness of audiovisual messages (video) as a means of delivering information on input use and improved maize management practices to farmers. Second, we quantify the additional impact of complementing video with an interactive voice response (IVR) service. Third, we estimate the incremental effect of time‐sensitive short message services (SMS) messages designed to remind farmers about applying key practices at specific points during the season. We find that households that were shown a short video on how to become better maize farmers were performing significantly better on a knowledge test, more likely to apply recommended practices, and more likely to use fertilizer than households that did not view the video. These same households also reported maize yields about 10.5% higher than those that did not view the video. We find little evidence of an incremental effect of the IVR service or SMS reminders. 2021-01-01 2024-05-22T12:10:19Z 2024-05-22T12:10:19Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142325 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147262 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-101520-080657 https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.313801 Open Access Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Spielman, David J.; and Lecoutere, Els. 2021. Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 103(1): 317-337. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajae.12089 |
| spellingShingle | fertilizers agricultural extension technology maize capacity development agriculture smallholders information and communication technologies information Van Campenhout, Bjorn Spielman, David J. Lecoutere, Els Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda |
| title | Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda |
| title_full | Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda |
| title_fullStr | Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda |
| title_short | Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda |
| title_sort | information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers experimental evidence from uganda |
| topic | fertilizers agricultural extension technology maize capacity development agriculture smallholders information and communication technologies information |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142325 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vancampenhoutbjorn informationandcommunicationtechnologiestoprovideagriculturaladvicetosmallholderfarmersexperimentalevidencefromuganda AT spielmandavidj informationandcommunicationtechnologiestoprovideagriculturaladvicetosmallholderfarmersexperimentalevidencefromuganda AT lecoutereels informationandcommunicationtechnologiestoprovideagriculturaladvicetosmallholderfarmersexperimentalevidencefromuganda |