Improving Agricultural Productivity through TV Programming and Improved Input Access

Last registered on February 19, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Improving Agricultural Productivity through TV Programming and Improved Input Access
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012575
Initial registration date
December 04, 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
December 06, 2023, 9:02 AM EST

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

Last updated
February 19, 2025, 5:56 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Zambia
Region
Eastern and Central Province

Primary Investigator

Name
Berber Kramer
Affiliation
International Food Policy Research Institute
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Shilpa Aggarwal
PI Affiliation
Indian School of Business
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PI Name
Berber Kramer
PI Affiliation
IFPRI
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PI Name
Francisco Ceballos
PI Affiliation
IFPRI
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-07-01
End date
2025-07-01
Keywords
Agriculture, Gender
Additional Keywords
agriculture, extension, roadshow, edutainment, television, market access, input fair
JEL code(s)
O12, O13, Q12, Q16
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Television is a powerful tool to scale ‘edutainment’ - information that is both educational and entertaining. One such form of information is agricultural information, but there is limited rigorous evidence on the effect of extension delivered via television on agricultural outcomes, such as investment or productivity. Moreover, while television can provide easy access to information, its impact on agricultural investment may be constrained by other barriers, such as market access. We implement a cross-randomized experiment to simultaneously address information and market access constraints. We will evaluate a new farm makeover show broadcast on national TV in Zambia called “Munda Make Over”, modeled after the popular Kenyan show “Shamba Shape Up”. The show is similar to home makeover shows in developed countries, featuring visits by an expert who tours the farm, points out areas for improvement, and implements their advice, with segments dedicated to gender issues interspersed throughout the season. To address market access, we simultaneously cross-randomize “road shows”, locally-held events in which providers make their products and services available for sale closer to where farmers live, addressing barriers to market access. The road show will feature inputs such as seeds of improved, drought-resistant varieties, or other relevant inputs. MMO partners may also use the road shows to provide other products and services designed for smallholder farmers, for instance, agricultural credit or crop insurance.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Aggarwal, Shilpa et al. 2025. "Improving Agricultural Productivity through TV Programming and Improved Input Access." AEA RCT Registry. February 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12575-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will run an RCT in Zambia in which we simultaneously provide farmers with agricultural information and access to inputs. Agricultural information will be provided through the TV show, with farmers in the treatment arm being shown the show via screenings in local villages. Households with TVs will also be encouraged to watch the show on their own, and reminded via text message. In addition, households with smartphone access will be sent YouTube links to the show. Access to inputs will be provided through “roadshows”, in which input and service providers will offer their products for sale at accessible locations in the vicinity of study villages.

We will rely on a 2 by 2 cross-randomized study design, for a total of four treatment arms, with the village as the unit of randomization for the TV show intervention. To implement the roadshow treatment, we need large enough numbers of participants to make participation worthwhile for the private sector, and it will be difficult to prevent participation from farmers in neighboring villages. We will therefore randomly select 10 of the 20 "camps" (the lowest administrative unit above villages), in which we identify accessible locations to organize the roadshow. All farmers in these 10 roadshow treatment camps will be invited to attend the roadshow in their camp.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2023-12-01
Intervention End Date
2024-10-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
agricultural knowledge, agricultural practices, input adoption
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
yield, women's empowerment
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Yields will be measured from data on total production and acreage cultivated. Women's empowerment will be measured using modules from the Project-Level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (Pro-WEAI)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will identify 160 villages from 20 camps (8 villages per camp) in 5 districts in Eastern and Central provinces in Zambia. We will randomize assign these villages to the information (TV show) treatment, stratified by district. In addition, we randomly assign two camps per district to the market access (roadshow) treatment, again stratified by district. This results in 4 treatment arms (information only, market access only, information + market access, and control).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done in office by computer
Randomization Unit
The information interventions will be randomized at the village level. The market access intervention will be randomized at the camp level.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
160 villages and 20 camps
Sample size: planned number of observations
We sampled 8 villages per camp, and plan on 10-16 surveys per village, i.e. 1600-2560 surveys total across 20 camps.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Control: 40 villages from the 10 camps without roadshows (market access treatment)
Information only: 40 villages from the 10 camps without roadshows
Market access only: 40 villages from the 10 camps with roadshows
Market access + information: 40 villages from the 10 camps with roadshows
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
International Food Policy Research Institute IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-08-21
IRB Approval Number
MTI-23-0833
IRB Name
ERES Converge
IRB Approval Date
2023-08-17
IRB Approval Number
2023-Jun-019
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