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General

Study Overview

Title:

Role of Text Messages in Nudging Farmers to use Credible Information Sources for Farming decisions.

Study is 3ie funded:

No

Study ID:

RIDIE-STUDY-ID-614da64dc2f99

Initial Registration Date:

09/24/2021

Last Update Date:

09/04/2021

Study Status:

Completed

Location(s):

India

Abstract:

The role of information is very evident and spans all the steps of decision making as depicted above. One of the key factors that compromise optimal decision making of farmers is the lack of credible information (Aker, 2011a; Fafchamps & Minten, 2012b; Jensen, 2007). It is often argued that the govt. organized extension programs suffer from poor planning, formulation, and execution (Ali & Kumar, 2011; Glendenning & Ficarelli, 2012). They fail to respond to the needs of the community, further their reach is very minimal (Glendenning et al., 2010). As an alternative, the role of ICT’s as a medium and source of information dissemination is slowly gaining popularity all over the world (Ali & Kumar, 2011; Beaman et al., 2014; Rao, 2007). We propose to use the intervention of text reminders in our study to nudge the farmer into using a mobile phone application. We hypothesize that this nudge would lead to a shift from using less credible sources of information to more credible sources of information thereby enhancing the decision-making capabilities of the farmer.

Registration Citation:

Categories:

Agriculture and Rural Development
Information and Communications Technology

Additional Keywords:

Smartphones, Technology adoption, Text messages, Randomized control trial

Secondary ID Number(s):

AEARCTR-0005690 by AEA RCT registry

Principal Investigator(s)

Name of First PI:

R Sai Shiva Jayanth

Affiliation:

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

Name of Second PI:

Sthanu R Nair

Affiliation:

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

Study Sponsor

Name:

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

Study Sponsor Location:

India

Research Partner

Name of Partner Institution:

Farmgreen Agritech India Private Limited

Type of Organization:

Private firm

Location:

India

Intervention

Intervention Overview

Intervention:

We would firstly introduce a mobile phone application to all the (treatment as well as control) farmers. Once the mobile phone application is introduced, we randomly assign half of the farmers to the treatment group (and another half into the control group). The treatment farmers would receive frequent text reminders nudging them to use the mobile phone application

Private Intervention Details:

Theory of Change:

The goal of our study is to test the impact of Text messages (reminders) in enhancing the usage of MPA, shift to credible information sources and improve the decision making capabilities among farmers. With this goal and context, we would firstly introduce a mobile phone application to all the (treatment as well as control) farmers. Once the mobile phone application is introduced, we randomly assign half of the farmers to the treatment group (and other half into control group) and start sending them frequent text reminders nudging them to use the MPA. In the ex-ante survey, we would obtain information on farmers’ usage and dependency on various information sources and their usage, frequency and duration of the MPA and farmers decision making capabilities. The farmers would then install MPA and use the MPA for accessing information to various farming related aspects provided in the MPA. (If the farmers have any queries or require any assistance in using the MPA, the application provider would troubleshoot and provide assistance through the MPA). We hypothesise that among the farmers receiving text messages as reminders, there would be increased levels of adoption and usage of the MPA. This will lead them to shift from less credible to credible sources of information. We would understand this by collecting data on sources of information assimilation of the farmers. The farmers would finally, increase the use of credible information sources leading to enhanced decision making capability. We would conduct an ex post survey to collect the details of farmers’ usage and dependency on various information sources and their usage, frequency and duration of the MPA. The following table is the pathway through which we hypothesise that the proposed intervention could bring about the change in the farmers

Multiple Treatment Arms Evaluated?

No

Implementing Agency

Name of Organization:

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

Type of Organization:

Research Institution/University

Program Funder

Name of Organization:

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

Type of Organization:

Research Institution/University

Intervention Timing

Intervention or Program Started at time of Registration?

Yes

Start Date:

09/01/2020

End Date:

03/31/2021

Evaluation Method

Evaluation Method Overview

Primary (or First) Evaluation Method:

Randomized control trial

Other (not Listed) Method:

Additional Evaluation Method (If Any):

Difference in difference/fixed effects

Other (not Listed) Method:

Method Details

Details of Evaluation Approach:

Private Details of Evaluation Approach:

Outcomes (Endpoints):

1. Usage of MPA
2. Choice of information sources
3. Decision-making capabilities of the farmer

Unit of Analysis:

Individual level (Farmers)

Hypotheses:

The primary hypothesis is that sending text messages would lead to improved adoption and usage of smartphone applications among farmers .

Unit of Intervention or Assignment:

Individuals

Number of Clusters in Sample:

1

Number of Individuals in Sample:

1100

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

10 villages Sample size: planned number of observations 1100 farmers Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms 110 farmers per village

Supplementary Files

Analysis Plan:

Other Documents:

Data

Outcomes Data

Description:

The data of adoption and usage would be collected from our collaborating partner - Farm green Agritech Private limited Baseline and end line data would be collected by trained enumerators

Data Already Collected?

Yes

Data Previously Used?

No

Data Access:

Restricted -- Access requires a formal approval process

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Data has been collected by face-to-face interviews and telephonic interviews. The enumerators were trained using training modules, pilot studies, and false launches. The data has been collected will all approvals from the subjects and also the Institutional review board

Approval Status:

Yes-obtained approval and have received the data

Treatment Assignment Data

Participation or Assignment Information:

Yes

Description:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Data Analysis

Data Analysis Status:

Yes

Study Materials

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Registration Category

Registration Category:

Non-Prospective, Category 4: Data for measuring impacts have been obtained/collected by the research team and analysis for this evaluation has started

Completion

Completion Overview

Intervention Completion Date:

Data Collection Completion Date:

Unit of Analysis:

Clusters in Final Sample:

Total Observations in Final Sample:

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

Findings

Preliminary Report:

Preliminary Report URL:

Summary of Findings:

Paper:

Paper Summary:

Paper Citation:

Data Availability

Data Availability (Primary Data):

Date of Data Availability:

Data URL or Contact:

Access procedure:

Other Materials

Survey:

Survey Instrument Links or Contact:

Program Files:

Program Files Links or Contact:

External Link:

External Link Description:

Description of Changes:

Study Stopped

Date:

Reason: