Assessing the impact of Leaf Color Charts among cotton farmers in India

Last registered on July 29, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Assessing the impact of Leaf Color Charts among cotton farmers in India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014033
Initial registration date
July 22, 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
July 29, 2024, 4:34 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
Jagori Chatterjee
Affiliation
Precision Development
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Tomoko Harigaya
PI Affiliation
Precision Development
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PI Name
Maulik Jagnani
PI Affiliation
Tufts University
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PI Name
Shawn Cole
PI Affiliation
Harvard Business School
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-03-01
End date
2025-04-30
Keywords
Agriculture, Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
Leaf Color Chart, financial incentives
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Leaf Color Charts (LCCs) are a decision support tool to help farmers assess leaf nitrogen needs in real-time, and optimize fertilizer use, aiming to improve farm yield and profits while minimizing environmental impact. We are conducting a field experiment in Maharashtra, India, to estimate the impact of training, ex-ante vs. ex-post incentives, and conditional vs. unconditional ex-ante incentives on LCC adoption.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chatterjee, Jagori et al. 2024. "Assessing the impact of Leaf Color Charts among cotton farmers in India." AEA RCT Registry. July 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14033-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-05-01
Intervention End Date
2024-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
a. LCC panel reading.
b. Chlorophyll meter reading.
c. Self-reported urea use (kg/acre).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Self-reported cotton fiber yield (kg/acre).
Self-reported fertilizer cost (INR/acre).
Self-reported production cost (INR/acre).
Self-reported profit (INR/acre).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Using a random-walk sampling method, we recruited 1,200 farmers in Maharashtra for this study. We stratified recruited farmers by farmer’s block of residence and randomly assigned them to one of the following four experimental arms:

- Control (400 farmers). The group that receives no intervention.
- Treatment 1 (200 farmers). The treatment group that will receive the LCC in person and training and digital support on how and when to use the LCC.
- Treatment 2 (200 farmers). This group will be the same as T1 but with the conditional payment of ~$5 per acre at the end of the season for using the LCC (to be verified via field visits for chlorophyll meter and LCC panel reading of cotton leaves).
- Treatment 3 (200 farmers). This group will be the same as T1 but with an upfront payment of ~$5/acre for using the LCC, with a threat of rescinding the payment if they do not use it, verified by chlorophyll meter and LCC panel readings.
- Treatment 4 (200 farmers). This group will be the same as T1 but with an unconditional upfront payment of ~$5/acre without the threat of the payment being rescinded.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
We randomized individual farmers using a computer with Stata's ‘randtreat’ command, stratified by the farmers’ block of residence.
Randomization Unit
Individual (farmer) level randomization for the full sample.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,200 farmers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
- Control (400 farmers). The group that receives no intervention.
- Treatment 1 (200 farmers). The treatment group that will receive the LCC in person and training and digital support on how and when to use the LCC.
- Treatment 2 (200 farmers). This group will be the same as T1 but with the conditional payment of ~$5 per acre at the end of the season for using the LCC (to be verified via field visits for chlorophyll reading of cotton leaves).
- Treatment 3 (200 farmers). This group will be the same as T1 but with an upfront payment of ~$5/acre for using the LCC, with a threat of rescinding the payment if they do not use it, verified by chlorophyll meter visits.
- Treatment 4 (200 farmers). This group will be the same as T1 but with an unconditional upfront payment of ~$5/acre without the threat of the payment being rescinded.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IFMR IRB
IRB Approval Date
2024-03-15
IRB Approval Number
10756
IRB Name
HML IRB
IRB Approval Date
2024-02-14
IRB Approval Number
2515
Analysis Plan