Improving seed selection and storage to increase yields among Ugandan potato growers

Last registered on February 10, 2016

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Improving seed selection and storage to increase yields among Ugandan potato growers

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0001014

Initial registration date

January 27, 2016

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

January 27, 2016, 9:17 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

February 10, 2016, 7:03 AM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

Uganda

Region

southwest

Primary Investigator

Name

Bjorn Van Campenhout

Affiliation

Ifpri

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Piet Asten

PI Affiliation

IITA

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2016-02-15

End date

2017-04-30

Keywords

Agriculture

Additional Keywords

technology adoption, seed selection, extension

JEL code(s)

O13, O33

Secondary IDs

Abstract

To spur sustainable intensification in potato growing in southwestern Uganda, previous research within PASIC has shown that it’s primarily a seed quality issue. While increasing access to potato seed derived from basic pathogen free starter seed should remain a key policy priority, existing seed systems may currently be too weak to be scaled up in a relatively short time. Therefore, small interventions aimed at increasing awareness about the importance of the quality of existing planting material, as well as increasing skills in selection and handling of seed material may be more cost effective. This view was share by IFDC-Catalyst, who have set up seed screen houses in a rather ad-hoc way. The hypothesis is also in line with previous research that identified knowledge gaps as a significant barrier to crop intensification methods more in general. This research will engage in action research on the (relative) effectiveness of providing information on how to select, store and handle planting material to improve potato seed quality. To do so, we will use a social experiment in the field that exposes farmers to short agricultural extension messages (for example through a short video) on how to select the best planting materials and on how to store and handle planting materials between the last harvest and the next planting season. The experiment will use a design that will enable us to also disentangle the effect of information on the selection of seeds from the effect of information on storage and handling.

External Link(s)

the entire project is under Version Control using Git and linked to a (private) repository hosted at bitbucket.

Registration Citation

Citation

Asten, Piet and Bjorn Van Campenhout. 2016. "Improving seed selection and storage to increase yields among Ugandan potato growers." AEA RCT Registry. February 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1014-5.0

Former Citation

Asten, Piet and Bjorn Van Campenhout. 2016. "Improving seed selection and storage to increase yields among Ugandan potato growers." AEA RCT Registry. February 10. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1014/history/6827

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We will use a social experiment in the field that exposes farmers to short agricultural extension messages (for example through a short video) on how to select the best planting materials and on how to store and handle planting materials between the last harvest and the next planting season. The experiment will use a design that will enable us to also disentangle the effect of information on the selection of seeds from the effect of information on storage and handling.

Intervention Start Date

2016-04-01

Intervention End Date

2016-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

potato yield, household consumption expenditure.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

2X2 factorial design. About 100 households will receive information on how to select the best planting materials from the previous harvest. About 100 households will receive information on how to store and handle planting materials between the last harvest and the next planting period. This will be done in such a way that there are 50 households that receive both types of information and 50 households that do not receive any information at all (a control group).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

We have access to baseline data. Randomization will be done on a computer after bloc matching. An algorithm was developed to perform a hierarchical clustering in groups of equal cluster size using nearest neighbor matching. The algorithm also tries to maximize distance between households within each cluster (based on GPS coordinates) to minimize spillover effects. We have used the following cluster variables: household size, age of household head, average productivity of potato, gender of household head, total area of potato cultivation , consumption per capita, distance to input distributor, amount of credit received in the last year and whether the household had access to extension for potato growing. The algorithm can be found here (http://is.gd/ZGP3cF), the script that generates the randomization here (http://is.gd/fmfgCm) and the allocation of treatment here (http://is.gd/1FfWIW). The last is also uploaded as supporting materials to this registration.

Randomization Unit

household level: potato growing farm households in eastern uganda

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

200

Sample size: planned number of observations

200

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

200

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

The agronomy survey suggests an increase in yields from about 4.5 tons/ha to 14 tons/ha. Power calculations to detect ¼ th of such an effect suggests we need about 94 observations in each treatment arm. We therefor propose to run an experiment that involves about 200 observations in a 2x2 factorial design. In such a design, about 100 households will receive information on how to select the best planting materials from the previous harvest. About 100 households will receive information on how to store and handle planting materials between the last harvest and the next planting period. This will be done in such a way that there are 50 households that receive both types of information and 50 households that do not receive any information at all (a control group).

Supporting Documents and Materials

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