The impact of conservation agriculture on productivity

Last registered on October 04, 2023
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The impact of conservation agriculture on productivity
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012220
Initial registration date
October 02, 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
October 04, 2023, 5:00 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Ethiopia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Salvatore Di Falco
Affiliation
University of Geneva
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2013-05-02
End date
2021-10-02
Keywords
Agriculture, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Q1
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Using a set of multi-year randomized control trials in Ethiopia, we investigate how tailored plot-specific information about soil conservation practices affects adoption and soil productivity implications in the medium run. The baseline was done in 2015. Outcomes were then collected in 2016, 2017, and 2021. GPS coordinates were collected at the farm level.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Di Falco, Salvatore. 2023. "The impact of conservation agriculture on productivity." AEA RCT Registry. October 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12220-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Poster with information about benefits of Conservation Agriculture at the household level.
Intervention Start Date
2016-05-02
Intervention End Date
2021-05-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Harvest
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Labor
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment aims to test whether tailored information communicated can be effective in increasing the adoption of recommended sustainable practices and improving land productivity, which may contribute to welfare improvements. Though the recommended technologies are different, we follow a model of technological learning similar to Hanna et al. (2014) stated information provision about the returns from a given technology with summary statistics on individual-specific yields to farmers induced a change in the adoption of their planting practice behavior. We also projected the net farm incomes from a plot with specific characteristics
when the recommended sustainable agricultural practices are fully adopted. Our intervention generally took
place at the village level and all farmers in the treatment villages were communicated tailored information on
the specific technology adoption as long as they did not adopt the full sets of identified sustainable agricultural
practices on their specific farm plots. The full sets consist of joint adoption of three recommended technologies;
namely minimum tillage, crop rotation with legumes, and improved seed technology. These sets of technologies
were categorized as CA practices and seed technology.
Experimental Design Details
The experiment aims to test whether tailored information communicated can be effective in increasing the adoption of recommended sustainable practices and improving land productivity, which may contribute to welfare improvements. Though the recommended technologies are different, we follow a model of technological learning similar to Hanna et al. (2014) stated information provision about the returns from a given technology with summary statistics on individual-specific yields to farmers induced a change in the adoption of their planting practice behavior. We also projected the net farm incomes from a plot with specific characteristics
when the recommended sustainable agricultural practices are fully adopted. Our intervention generally took
place at the village level and all farmers in the treatment villages were communicated tailored information on
the specific technology adoption as long as they did not adopt the full sets of identified sustainable agricultural
practices on their specific farm plots. The full sets consist of joint adoption of three recommended technologies;
namely minimum tillage, crop rotation with legumes, and improved seed technology. These sets of technologies
were categorized as CA practices and seed technology.
Randomization Method
Office computer
Randomization Unit
villages
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
800 farmers
Sample size: planned number of observations
800x4
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
80 villages
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
200
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Geneva IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-10-02
IRB Approval Number
CUREG2021-01-05
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials