Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP15220
Authors: Luc Behaghel; Jeremie Gignoux; Karen Macours
Abstract: Evaluating a large-scale program for dairy farmers in Uganda, we show that a simpleversion of the “contact farmer” extension model can meaningfully increase smallholderfarmers’ revenues. While the program provides no monetary incentives, we find evidencethat two other ingredients – backstopping by professional extension agent and advertisingpro-social motivation – reinforce its impacts. Though it has been hypothesized to be a major impediment to social learning in Sub-Saharan African agriculture, we do not find smallholder heterogeneity to condition theeffectiveness of the approach: farmer trainers trained to take this heterogeneity into considerationdo not perform better; moreover, we find no statistical evidence that programeffects vary by farmers’ characteristics.
Keywords: agricultural productivity; heterogeneity; extension; livestock; social learning
JEL Codes: O12; O13; O33; Q16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| smallholder heterogeneity (Q12) | effectiveness of FT program (M53) |
| enhanced knowledge transmission (O36) | increased adoption of improved feeding practices (Q16) |
| increased adoption of improved feeding practices (Q16) | higher milk production (D29) |
| FT program (Y20) | increased revenues of smallholder dairy farmers (Q12) |
| FT program (Y20) | enhanced knowledge transmission (O36) |