Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services?

Considerable resources are allocated to agricultural extension around the world, with questionable cost effectiveness. An obvious question is whether information and communication technologies can be used to push agricultural extension messages effectively at a lower cost. Based on a clustered rando...

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Main Authors: Almanzar, Miguel, de Brauw, Alan, Nakasone, Eduardo
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143443
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author Almanzar, Miguel
de Brauw, Alan
Nakasone, Eduardo
author_browse Almanzar, Miguel
Nakasone, Eduardo
de Brauw, Alan
author_facet Almanzar, Miguel
de Brauw, Alan
Nakasone, Eduardo
author_sort Almanzar, Miguel
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Considerable resources are allocated to agricultural extension around the world, with questionable cost effectiveness. An obvious question is whether information and communication technologies can be used to push agricultural extension messages effectively at a lower cost. Based on a clustered randomized control trial, we evaluate a pilot in which farmers receive information about agricultural production on rice, vegetables, and chicken rearing via mobile phone voice messages. Our experimental design included groups of households without and with farmer group membership. We evaluate whether farmers received the information, learned it, shared it with non-recipients, and used it, and how the effects of the information campaign on these outcomes changes with being part of an existing farmer group and the proportion of the village population receiving information. We find farmers in the information treatment groups were more knowledgeable about the practices promoted, believe it helped them produce more, and shared it with others. The information campaign was more effective for rice and to a lesser extent chicken rearing than for vegetables. We do not find differential effects by farmer group membership. We find that the amount of information sent to the village increases information diffusion but the speed of sharing the information is similar across treatment groups and by different saturation rates. We conclude that targeted and simple information campaigns can help supplement the information needs of farmers in a cost-effective manner, independently of their participation in farmer groups or extension programs.
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spelling CGSpace1434432025-12-02T21:03:13Z Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services? Almanzar, Miguel de Brauw, Alan Nakasone, Eduardo poultry technology adoption food production agricultural production agricultural extension technology rice networks vegetables chickens information transfer Considerable resources are allocated to agricultural extension around the world, with questionable cost effectiveness. An obvious question is whether information and communication technologies can be used to push agricultural extension messages effectively at a lower cost. Based on a clustered randomized control trial, we evaluate a pilot in which farmers receive information about agricultural production on rice, vegetables, and chicken rearing via mobile phone voice messages. Our experimental design included groups of households without and with farmer group membership. We evaluate whether farmers received the information, learned it, shared it with non-recipients, and used it, and how the effects of the information campaign on these outcomes changes with being part of an existing farmer group and the proportion of the village population receiving information. We find farmers in the information treatment groups were more knowledgeable about the practices promoted, believe it helped them produce more, and shared it with others. The information campaign was more effective for rice and to a lesser extent chicken rearing than for vegetables. We do not find differential effects by farmer group membership. We find that the amount of information sent to the village increases information diffusion but the speed of sharing the information is similar across treatment groups and by different saturation rates. We conclude that targeted and simple information campaigns can help supplement the information needs of farmers in a cost-effective manner, independently of their participation in farmer groups or extension programs. 2021-06-30 2024-05-22T12:14:11Z 2024-05-22T12:14:11Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143443 en https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133523 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133591 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133323 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Almanzar, Miguel; de Brauw, Alan; and Nakasone, Eduardo. 2021. Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services? IFPRI Discussion Paper 2032. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134454.
spellingShingle poultry
technology adoption
food production
agricultural production
agricultural extension
technology
rice
networks
vegetables
chickens
information transfer
Almanzar, Miguel
de Brauw, Alan
Nakasone, Eduardo
Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services?
title Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services?
title_full Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services?
title_fullStr Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services?
title_full_unstemmed Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services?
title_short Sharing tips for rice, chicken and vegetable production: Do voice messages and social learning complement extension services?
title_sort sharing tips for rice chicken and vegetable production do voice messages and social learning complement extension services
topic poultry
technology adoption
food production
agricultural production
agricultural extension
technology
rice
networks
vegetables
chickens
information transfer
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143443
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AT debrauwalan sharingtipsforricechickenandvegetableproductiondovoicemessagesandsociallearningcomplementextensionservices
AT nakasoneeduardo sharingtipsforricechickenandvegetableproductiondovoicemessagesandsociallearningcomplementextensionservices