Abstract
Decades of conflict in rural Colombia – combined with the rough terrain and meager transportation infrastructure that are typical of remote and low-income regions – have eroded market ties between rural farmers and wealthier market centers. This poses a challenge to rural livelihoods and coca eradication, both components of Colombia's 2016 Peace Accords. We use a randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of a market-making program, a supply chain intervention that integrates commercialization with agricultural extension practices to connect farmers to buyers of legal crops. We study the market making program alone and the market making program plus a cash intervention, which more closely mirrors the Colombian government's current practice. Specifically, we ask: (1) what is the effect of a supply chain intervention that connects coca-growing farmers to buyers of alternative crops on the composition and quantity of household income, coca growth, and social outcomes such as self-efficacy, trust, and security, (2) is there a differential effect of implementing the supply chain intervention alongside a cash intervention that guarantees participants a minimum income, and (3) which version of the program is most cost-effective?