Transition to low-carbon agricultural technologies: The case of farmers in Burkina Faso

Last registered on August 10, 2025

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Transition to low-carbon agricultural technologies: The case of farmers in Burkina Faso

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0014971

Initial registration date

May 06, 2025

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

May 06, 2025, 5:29 AM EDT

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

Last updated

August 10, 2025, 7:02 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Burkina Faso

Region

West Africa

Primary Investigator

Name

Agnes Zabsonre

Affiliation

Partnership for Economic Policy, Nazi Boni University

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Rita Nikiema

PI Affiliation

Partnership for Economic Policy, Norbert Zongo University

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PI Name

Soumaila Gansonre

PI Affiliation

Partnership for Economic Policy, Joseph Ki-Zerbo University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Maxime Agbo

PI Affiliation

Partnership for Economic Policy, University of Parakou

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Edmond Lankouande

PI Affiliation

Partnership for Economic Policy, Joseph Ki-Zerbo University

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PI Name

Roukieta Bonkoungou

PI Affiliation

Partnership for Economic Policy, Thomas Sankara University

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Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2024-01-01

End date

2026-03-31

Keywords

Agriculture, Environment & Energy, Gender

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

The adoption of clean energy agricultural technologies, such as water solar pumps, has the potential to enhance agricultural productivity and improve the livelihoods of farmers, including women. However, adoption remains low due to lack of awareness, financial constraints and sociocultural barriers. This study investigates the barriers to adoption and explores strategies to increase uptake through an intervention. The proposed intervention consists of information campaigns, cost-benefit training, and technological transfer facilitated by Africa Energy Solaire, an SME operating in Burkina Faso. The study employs a clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to assess the impact of these interventions on farmers’ willingness to adopt water solar pumps. A sample of approximately 100 agricultural cooperatives will be selected from the Centre and Plateau Central regions. These cooperatives will be randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. In each cooperative, at least 10 members will be surveyed, resulting in an overall sample of 1,000 farmers. Data collection will be conducted in three phases—baseline, midline, and endline—with the midline survey assessing the quality of the intervention. By addressing knowledge gaps and financial barriers, this research aims to inform policymakers and stakeholders on effective strategies to facilitate the transition to sustainable agricultural practices in Burkina Faso.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Agbo, Maxime et al. 2025. "Transition to low-carbon agricultural technologies: The case of farmers in Burkina Faso." AEA RCT Registry. August 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14971-1.1

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention consists of training programs that include:
- Information on the advantages/disadvantages of different irrigation methods: manual irrigation, diesel water pumps, and solar water pumps.
- Information campaigns on the benefits of solar water pumps compared to diesel-powered pumps.
- Cost-benefit training to educate farmers on the long-term financial advantages of solar water pumps.
- Technology transfer through demonstrations of the different irrigation methods (manual irrigation, diesel pumps, and solar water pumps).
- Partnerships with microfinance institutions to facilitate access to financing for solar water pumps.
The main implementing partner is Africa Energy Solaire (AES). AES is a small enterprise that focuses on the provision of solar energy equipment and the installation of photovoltaic and solar-powered water pumping systems, contributing to the expansion of renewable energy infrastructure. AES will lead the training and awareness campaigns.

Intervention (Hidden)

Africa Energy Solaire will present videos to showcase the success of some farmers using solar-powered irrigation pumps to raise awareness. Additionally, it will present a video to show how solar pumps are working. This stage will be followed by a demonstration in the field. Nine sites have been identified for the purpose. During the demonstration, AES will present three irrigation options to the farmers allocated to the treatment group, namely, manual irrigation, gasoline- or diesel-powered water pumping irrigation and solar-powered water pumping irrigation. Then, participants will be given the reasons why adopting solar pumps could be more profitable option than the remaining two options. In other words, the objective is to inform participants of the main relevant characteristics of the three kinds of irrigation methods, enabling them to update their knowledge of these options. So, participants should choose what they prefer. We hypothesize that, after the training, they will be more inclined to adopt—or at least express a willingness to adopt—solar water pumps. This training will be completed by a presentation from the microfinance institution to inform farmers about credit access mechanisms, particularly the pay-as-you-go financing model.

Intervention Start Date

2025-05-15

Intervention End Date

2025-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The primary outcome measure is farmers' intent-to-adopt solar water pumps. Other primary outcomes include knowledge of solar water pumps, adoption of solar water pumps, willingness to pay for a solar water pump and area farmed.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Our primary outcomes do not require construction, as they are directly observed and captured through the survey variables.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The study employs a clustered RCT to evaluate the impact of information campaigns and technological transfer on farmers' willingness to adopt solar water pumps in Burkina Faso.

The study randomly assigns 100 agricultural cooperatives to either the treatment (receiving training) or the control (no training).group, with 50 farmers in each group. Each cooperative contains 10 farmers. Then the sample includes approximately 1,000 farmers.

The treatment group will receive training sessions, cost-benefit information, and technical demonstrations on solar water pumps. A microfinance institution is involved to facilitate financing options. The main outcome is willingness to adopt solar water pumps, alongside knowledge acquisition and gender-based adoption patterns. The study uses Intent-to-Treat (ITT) analysis to measure the causal effect of the intervention, considering potential heterogeneity in adoption by gender.

Experimental Design Details

Agricultural cooperatives located in the Centre and the Plateau Central regions will be randomly selected with nearly equal numbers of men and women. The target populations will be farmers who are members of agricultural cooperatives and have not yet adopted solar pumps. The types of cooperatives allow us to identity three groups of cooperatives:

- Men-only cooperatives (20 cooperatives)
- Women-only cooperatives (20 cooperatives)
- Mixed-gender cooperatives (60 cooperatives).

So, we will be stratifying by the type of cooperative, as given above. Within each stratum, cooperatives will be randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. Specifically, half of the cooperatives in each category will be allocated to the treatment group, which will receive training and participate in information campaigns, while the remaining half will serve as the control group, receiving no intervention during the study period.

This design ensures equal representation of men and women across the treatment and control groups, allowing for gender-based heterogeneity analysis.

Randomization Method

The randomization will be done in office by a computer and stratifying by the gender-composition type of the cooperative.

Randomization Unit

The randomization will be done at the cooperative level, that is, the randomization unit is an agricultural cooperative.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

The planned number of clusters is 100 agricultural cooperatives.

Sample size: planned number of observations

The number of units of observations is 1,000 farmers.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

The total sample size is around 100 cooperatives, of which 50 cooperatives will be assigned to the treatment group and the remaining 50 cooperatives to control group.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

The minimum detectable effect size for main outcome is 0.0799.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB