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Commercial Viability of Malaria Control: The Outgrower Opportunity

Last registered on November 23, 2013
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Commercial Viability of Malaria Control: The Outgrower Opportunity
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000133
First published
November 22, 2013, 12:20 PM EST

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

Last updated
November 23, 2013, 2:22 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
Zambia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Richard Sedlmayr
Affiliation
University of Oxford
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2010-12-23
End date
2012-12-31
Keywords
Agriculture, Health
Additional Keywords
Malaria, insecticide-treated nets, smallholder, outgrowers, contract farming, agricultural productivity, public-private partnerships
JEL code(s)
C930 (Field Experiments), Q120 (Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets), I390 (Welfare and Poverty: Other)
Secondary IDs
clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01397851
Abstract
The study evaluates whether the sourcing of insecticide-treated nets and their distribution to smallholder farmers for free would be a profitable investment for a cotton outgrowing agribusiness in Zambia.
External Link(s)
Background documents
Clinicaltrials registration

Registration Citation

Citation
Sedlmayr, Richard. 2013. "Commercial Viability of Malaria Control: The Outgrower Opportunity." AEA RCT Registry. November 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.133-2.0
Former Citation
Sedlmayr, Richard. 2013. "Commercial Viability of Malaria Control: The Outgrower Opportunity." AEA RCT Registry. November 23. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/133/history/608
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Distribution of Insecticide-treated mosquito nets
Intervention Start Date
2011-01-20
Intervention End Date
2011-01-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Cotton yields, contract defaults, Increase in maize productivity, self-reported malaria incidence
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See clinicaltrials.gov registration NCT01397851

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Treatment: Insecticide-treated net

Smallholder farmers in the treatment group are informed that they won a raffle, and receive a free insecticide-treated net
Device: Insecticide-treated net (BASF Incerceptor)
One per farmer, once during the 2010-2011 season

No Intervention: Control
Smallholder farmers in the control group are informed that they had a chance to win an insecticide-treated mosquito net in a raffle, but did not end up winning
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computer
Randomization Unit
Cluster (Dunavant Distributor)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1507 distributors
Sample size: planned number of observations
81597 farmers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
39963 farmers in 739 clusters: treatment
41634 farmers in 768 clusters: control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
given preliminary data on available intracluster correlation and likely available nets as of September 2010, the MDE on was estimated to be 7$ in absolute terms. see protocol for details.
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
UNZA IRB
IRB Approval Date
2010-12-01
IRB Approval Number
not applicable
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
December 28, 2011, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
December 01, 2012, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
1507
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
81472
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
739 T, 768 C
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
PRIVATE SECTOR PERSPECTIVE (DUNAVANT): ECONOMIC EFFECTS

Building on nonexperimental literature on the economic impact of malaria, this paper evaluates the commercial impact of a private sector malaria control project in Zambia’s cotton industry. Using a cluster randomized trial involving 81,597 smallholder cotton farmers in 1,507 clusters, I evaluate whether the distribution of free insecticide-treated mosquito nets at the outset of malaria season increased farmer’s cotton production sufficiently to be commercially viable for the implementing agribusiness. But despite large health effects, I do not detect any impact on cotton deliveries to the business. I conclude that the independent and sustained distribution of free bed nets by Zambia’s cotton industry is unlikely to materialize without subsidies. More generally, the results question widespread narratives about the economic impact of malaria control, as well as the ability of standard economic models to explain the labor decisions of smallholder farmers.
Citation
Sedlmayr, Richard, On the Economic Impact of Malaria Control, Some Discordant Evidence (November 21, 2013). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2358045
URL
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2358045
Abstract
PUBLIC SECTOR PERSPECTIVE (NMCP): HEALTH EFFECTS

The distribution effectively reached target beneficiaries, with approximately 95% of households in the treatment group reporting that they had received an ITN through the programme. The average increase in the fraction of household members sleeping under an ITN the night prior to the interview was 14.6 percentage points (p-value <0.001). Treatment was associated with a 42 percent reduction in the odds of self-reported fever (p-value <0.001) and with a 49 percent reduction in the odds of self-reported malaria (p-value 0.002). This was accomplished at a cost of approximately five US$ per ITN to Zambia’s NMCP.


Citation
Sedlmayr, R., Fink, G., Miller, J. M., Earle, D., & Steketee, R. W. (2013). Health impact and cost-effectiveness of a private sector bed net distribution: experimental evidence from Zambia. Malaria Journal, 12:102 .
URL
http://www.malariajournal.com/content/12/1/102

Reports & Other Materials