Land Rental Service Providers: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia

Last registered on March 15, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Land Rental Service Providers: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013121
Initial registration date
March 04, 2024

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 15, 2024, 2:49 PM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Lorenzo Casaburi
Affiliation
University of Zurich
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Girum Abebe
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Niklas Buehren
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Adiam Hailemicheal
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-01-04
End date
2025-06-30
Keywords
Agriculture, Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In the experiment, we study the impact of providing farmers with vouchers to access services from Land Rental Service Providers (LRSPs), who can facilitate land rentals by matching landlords and tenants, supporting price negotiations, formalizing contracts, and assisting in case of disputes. We randomize vouchers for LRSPs across 235 kebelles (the smallest administrative unit), targeting households that have expressed an interest for this service in the initial listing exercise. First, we examine the impact of the voucher on household participation in rental markets. We then examine treatment effects on household outcomes, including agricultural production, non-agricultural activities, food security, and wealth.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Abebe, Girum et al. 2024. "Land Rental Service Providers: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. March 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13121-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We first collect names of farming households who are interested in the services of LRSPs services who can facilitate land rentals by matching landlords and tenants, supporting price negotiations, formalizing contracts, and assisting in case of disputes. Afterward, we randomize kebelles in a treatment group, where the households receive vouchers for the LRSPs, and a control group. The voucher lasts for one year, or two agricultural seasons.
Intervention Start Date
2024-03-01
Intervention End Date
2025-02-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Rental market participation: take-up of vouchers, use of LRSPs, binary indicator for land rental market participation, amount of land rented out/in, type of rental arrangement (written agreements, transactions registered with the woreda), rental prices.
2. Agricultural production: land use, crops grown, input use (labor, fertilizer, seeds, etc.), sustainable land management practices, output and productivity, labor supply on other households’ farms
3. Non-agricultural self-employment, wage employment, and migration (participation and earnings)
4. Food security
5. Wealth (livestock, assets)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
i. Legal awareness of land rights
ii. Household expenditures
iii. Aspirations
iv. Women empowerment
v. Trust and altruism
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We first collect names of farming households who are interested in the services of LRSPs services, who can facilitate land rentals by matching landlords and tenants, supporting price negotiations, formalizing contracts, and assisting in case of disputes. Afterward, we randomize kebelles in a treatment group, where the households receive vouchers for the LRSPs, and a control group.

We will do one follow-up survey after each of two experimental crop seasons (more if funding allows)

We will run ANCOVA specifications, controlling for baseline outcomes when available.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization on a computer
Randomization Unit
Kebelle, with stratification by Woreda (akin to district) and cluster size.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
235 kebeles
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 6,000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
117/118 clusters per treatment arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Zurich
IRB Approval Date
2024-01-03
IRB Approval Number
# 2024-001
Analysis Plan