Does combining traditional and information and communications technology–based extension methods improve agricultural outcomes? Evidence from field experiments in Mali

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Fred Mawunyo Dzanku,Robert Darko Osei
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12926

REGULAR ARTICLE

Does combining traditional and information

and communications technology–based

extension methods improve agricultural

outcomes? Evidence from field

experiments in Mali

Fred Mawunyo Dzanku | Robert Darko Osei

Institute of Statistical, Social and

Economic Research, University of Ghana,

Legon, Ghana

Correspondence

Fred Mawunyo Dzanku, Institute of

Statistical, Social and Economic

Research, University of Ghana, Legon,

Ghana.

Email: fdzanku@ug.edu.gh

Funding information

The International Initiative for Impact

Evaluation (3ie) provided funding and

technical support for evaluation (grant

number: TW4/1016). AGRA funded the

AMEDD interventions.

Abstract

Adequate flow of appropriate information to farmers is

vital for accelerating the uptake of modern agricultural

technologies and improving access to markets, all of

which are important for the transformation of African

economies. Yet there is limited evidence regarding how

information should be disseminated to farmers to

achieve the needed impact. Should ICT‐based

approaches be used together with traditional methods,

or should they be used alone? We used cluster quasi‐

random and randomized experiments involving 140

villages in southern Mali to study three chains of cau-

sality: does farmer training increase knowledge? Does

knowledge lead to change in behavior? Do the different

actions generate varying economic outcomes? We show

that the role of farmer training in the uptake of exten-

sion advice may be overstated in some settings; that

procrastination and inattention are more binding con-

straints to recommendation adherence than informa-

tion per se; and that such constraints could be

mitigated by timely voice SMS reminders. Although

timely reminders nudged farmers to take‐up recom-

mendations, leading to meaningful improvements in

some intermediate outcomes, these impacts were not

large enough to generate improvements in output,

Received: 1 March 2022 Revised: 24 July 2022 Accepted: 25 July 2022

DOI: 10.1111/rode.12926

450 © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Rev Dev Econ. 2023;27:450–475.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rode

prices and profits in the short term. These findings

must be interpreted within the context of imperfect

compliance with experimental protocols, which pose

threats to both the internal and external validity of

some of the impact estimates.

KEYWORDS

agricultural extension, information and communications

technology, Mali, randomized controlled trials, Sub‐Saharan

Africa

1|INTRODUCTION

Productivity-enhancing agricultural technologies play an important role in increasing per-capita

gross domestic product and engendering structural transformation, which is particularly vital

for African economies (McArthur & McCord, 2017). Therefore, the question of why the uptake

of such technologies is still lower than desired in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains important.

Smallholder farm investments are constrained by multiple factors. These include the heteroge-

neity in agricultural conditions, which makes it challenging for generic technologies and rec-

ommendations to produce desired results across a variety of conditions and geographic areas

(Suri & Udry, 2022). Such heterogeneity means knowledge and information on what works or

does not work in specific circumstances and locations is important. Thus, missing or inadequate

information could be a constraint to technology adoption (Bridle, Magruder, McIntosh, &

Suri, 2020). Even if insufficient, adequate information is necessary for technology uptake

because a farmer must first be aware of the technology, its benefits, and how to apply it effec-

tively to stimulate adoption (Oyinbo, Chamberlin, Abdoulaye, & Maertens, 2022). Indeed, some

evidence suggests that in some cases, information alone could be sufficient for stimulating

desired changes in farmer behavior (Islam & Beg, 2021; Parsa et al., 2014).

How should agricultural information be disseminated to farmers cost-effectively to precipi-

tate the needed change in behavior? To answer this question, this article employs quasi-random

and randomized experiments in Mali to address two main objectives: (1) to measure the impact

of two information dissemination approaches—training alone and training plus voice SMS

reminders—on key outcomes relative to a control group; (2) to measure the impact of training

and voice SMS reminders relative to a counterfactual of training alone. We evaluate the impact

on four categories of outcomes: (1) knowledge (of timing of crop harvest and group marketing),

(2) extension recommendations uptake (timely harvesting and output sales via aggregation cen-

ters), (3) “intermediate”outcomes (on-farm cereal losses and realized output), and (4) “final”

outcomes (cereal prices and profit). This setup allows us to study three chains of causality. First,

does training increase knowledge? Second, does knowledge lead to change in behavior? And

third, do the different actions generate varying economic outcomes?

In developing countries, traditional methods of agricultural extension such as reaching

farmers through extension agents and farmer field schools are used together with modern

approaches that rely on information and communications technology (ICT) platforms such as

mobile devices and applications (Dzanku, Osei, & Osei-Akoto, 2021; Larochelle, Alwang,

Travis, Barrera, & Dominguez Andrade, 2019; Van Campenhout, Spielman, & Lecoutere, 2021).

DZANKU AND OSEI 451