Urban Food and Nutrition Security Resilience through Urban Farming: A Circular Economy Approach

Last registered on May 04, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Urban Food and Nutrition Security Resilience through Urban Farming: A Circular Economy Approach
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011089
Initial registration date
March 13, 2023

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
March 17, 2023, 11:01 AM EDT

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

Last updated
May 04, 2023, 3:46 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Kenya
Region
Kibera

Primary Investigator

Name
Laura Barasa
Affiliation
University of Nairobi
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Evelyne Kihiu
PI Affiliation
International Potato Center
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Chrysantus Tanga
PI Affiliation
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology
Contact Investigator
PI Name
João Manuel Lameiras Vaz
PI Affiliation
University of Gothenburg
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-06-01
End date
2025-01-31
Keywords
Agriculture, Environment & Energy, Gender, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
I31 General Welfare, Well-Being; N57 Africa • Oceania; Q12 Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets; Q15 Land Ownership and Tenure • Land Reform • Land Use • Irrigation • Agriculture and Environment; Q18 Agricultural Policy • Food Policy • Animal Welfare Policy; Q53 Air Pollution • Water Pollution • Noise • Hazardous Waste • Solid Waste • Recycling
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Using a sample of 900 households, we use a randomized control trial to estimate the impact of urban farming using multi-storey gardens and black soldier fly frass fertilizer from recycled household waste on food and nutrition security in Kibera, the largest urban informal settlement in sub-Saharan Africa. It is likely that these treatments will improve household dietary diversity, food security, and food production.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Barasa, Laura et al. 2023. "Urban Food and Nutrition Security Resilience through Urban Farming: A Circular Economy Approach." AEA RCT Registry. May 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11089-3.1
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This study uses a randomized control trial to investigate the impact of urban farming and using black soldier fly frass fertilizer (BSFFF) from recycled household waste for urban farming on food and nutrition security. The proposed interventions include two treatments: (1) multi-storey gardens (MSG) for planting vegetables including starter material and training on how to use (T1), and (2) MSG combined with BSFFF from recycled household waste, including starter material and training on use (T2).
Intervention Start Date
2023-07-01
Intervention End Date
2023-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The outcomes of interest include the household’s dietary diversity score measured as the number of food groups consumed by a household out of 12 food groups seven days before the survey; food security, per capita food consumption expenditure; income, measured as the total household consumption expenditure; and household crop production
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Gendered effects of the intervention, labor supply, and time devoted to home production of food
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Randomization will be performed at the enumeration area level because MSGs are relatively large and can serve several households. First, we identify all N enumeration areas within 15 villages in Kibera. We will randomly divide a sample of M (< N) enumeration areas into three. M/3 enumeration areas will receive MSG (group 1), M/3 enumeration areas will receive MSG and FF (group 2), and the remaining M/3 will be the comparison group (group 3). We will administer surveys to assess whether treatment and control groups have similar characteristics. We will implement MSG in every household in a treatment enumeration area (groups 1 and 2) and BSFFF will be available for use by all households within the treated enumeration area (group 2).
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Enumeration areas
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
150 enumeration areas including 5-10 households
Sample size: planned number of observations
900 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50 enumeration areas control, 50 enumeration areas with multi-storey gardens only and 50 enumeration areas with multi-storey gardens and frass fertilizer.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Based on a conservative power calculation, a sample size of 900 households will be used in this study with 600 household being assigned to the treatments (300 in T1 - multi-storey gardens and 300 in T2 - BSFFF) and 300 households being assigned to the control group. The power calculation assumes a 5 percent level of statistical significance and a statistical power of 80 percent. The power calculation further assumes a monthly per adult equivalent food expenditure of KShs. 5705. This benchmark value for the outcome indicator is from the 2015/16 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey. This sample size will enable the study to detect a minimum of KShs.1500 ($12) increase in monthly per adult equivalent food expenditure.
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
United States International University - Africa
IRB Approval Date
2023-02-28
IRB Approval Number
USIU-A/IRB/142-2023
Analysis Plan