Harnessing ICT to Increase Agricultural Production: Evidence From Kenya

• Development Workshop

Date and Location

Monday, March 10, 2014, 4:10 PM - 5:30 PM
ARE Conference Room, 2102 Social Sciences and Humanities

Abstract

Sending SMS messages with agricultural advice to smallholder farmers increased yields by 11.5% relative to a control group with no messages. These effects are concentrated among farmers who had no agronomy training and had little interaction with sugar cane company staff at baseline. Enabling farmers to report input provision delays to the company reduces the proportion of delays in fertilizer delivery by 21.6%. There is evidence that reporting a complaint has positive geographic spillovers, since it induces the company to deliver inputs to several neighboring plots.