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Field
Trial Title
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Before
It’s Showtime! Improving Agricultural Productivity through TV Programming and Improved Input Access
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After
Improving Agricultural Productivity through TV Programming and Improved Input Access
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Field
Investigator
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Before
Jonathan Robinson
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After
Berber Kramer
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Field
Last Published
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Before
December 06, 2023 09:02 AM
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After
February 19, 2025 05:56 AM
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Field
Intervention (Public)
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Before
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. To implement the roadshow treatment, we need large enough numbers of participants to make participation worthwhile for the private sector. We will therefore identify accessible locations among a given cluster of roughly 8 study villages and invite the 4 in the treatment group to attend the road show. Specifically, we will randomly select the administrative unit of "camp" to create these clusters.
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After
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.
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Field
Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
We will identify 160 villages in 5 districts in Eastern and Central provinces in Zambia. We will randomize these villages into one of the 4 treatment groups (information only, market access only, information + market access, and control), stratified by district.
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After
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).
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Field
Randomization Unit
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Before
The market access and information interventions will be randomized at the village level.
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After
The information interventions will be randomized at the village level. The market access intervention will be randomized at the camp level.
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Field
Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
160 villages
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After
160 villages and 20 camps
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Field
Planned Number of Observations
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Before
We plan on 10-16 surveys per village, i.e. 1600-2560 surveys total.
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After
We sampled 8 villages per camp, and plan on 10-16 surveys per village, i.e. 1600-2560 surveys total across 20 camps.
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Field
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
40 villages in each treatment group (market access + information, information only, market access only, control)
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After
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
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Field
Public locations
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Before
No
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After
Yes
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