Chat Over Coffee? Diffusion of Agronomic Practices Through Information Networks in Rwanda

We evaluate TechnoServe's agronomy training program, which covered several best practices in coffee growing: tree rejuvenation and pruning; fertilizer use; pest, disease and weed management; mulching; soil and water conservation; optimal shade; and record keeping. The training sessions took place once a month for eleven months in the first year of the program (starting in February 2010). TechnoServe conducted an additional five review training sessions after these sessions were over, with the last review session being held in October 2011.

2010-02-01

2011-10-31

1. Knowledge of the agronomy best practices farmers were taught in the program
2. Self-reported adoption of these practices
3. Adoption as measured by our own tree audits
4. Input use (chemical fertilizer and labor)
5. Yields (KG/tree)

Knowledge index: this index averages fifteen standardized measures of what the farmer knows. It includes whether the farmer knows each of the ten methods used to control insects, pests and other diseases and how they should be used and whether the farmer knows each of five different fertilizers that should be used on coffee.

Adoption index: this index is the mean of nine standardized measures of which practices the farmer adopts. Importantly, these are collected using survey questions, and therefore measure self-reported adoption, as opposed to observed adoption. It includes whether the farmer adopted each of eight methods used to control insects, pests and other diseases, and whether the farmers kept a compost heap.

All audits index: this index is the mean of nine standardized measures of what the farmer adopts as per the observed tree audits. This index includes two measures of whether the farmer uses integrated pest management (whether old and dry berries are removed, whether
the bark is smoothed or banded to control white borer), whether the farmer used mulch, whether the tree was weeded, whether there are signs of rejuvenation, and four measures of pruning (removal of dead branches, removal of branches touching the ground, removal
of crossing branches, removal of unwanted suckers).

Leaf defects: this index is the mean of three standardized measures of leaf health from the tree audits. It includes: whether there are signs of the leaves yellowing, whether the leaves are curling and whether there are signs of the leaves rusting. A decrease in any of these measures would indicate an improvement in tree nutrition.

TNS identified 1,594 farmers (from 27 villages) to be part of the sample (all volunteered for the training program). Of the 1594, 855 farmers were randomly assigned to the treatment group to receive the agronomy training. The remaining 739 farmers were assigned to the control group and received no training at any point. In addition to this basic farmer level randomization, we randomized the 27 villages that had farmers that registered to be part of the training into three different levels of treatment concentration: in a third of villages, 25% of the registered farmers were treated, in a second third of villages, 50% of the registered farmers were treated, and in the final third of villages, 75% of the registered farmers were treated.

Oversubscription design

Household

Yes

27 villages

1594 households across 27 sample villages

739 Control households
855 Treatment houeholds