Abstract
Widespread adoption of improved seed varieties is vital for food security, but many countries lack capacity to produce and multiply improved varieties at scale. This issue is particularly salient for vegetatively propagated crops such as the crop of interest in this study (cassava), since planting materials are heavy and must be planted soon after harvest, and so multiplication of such crops must be done locally. We experimentally provide cooperatives with certified planting materials and offer them the opportunity to be certified by the Rwandan inspection agency. We measure outcomes for both the cooperatives themselves as well as for neighboring farmers who now have the opportunity to purchase improved cuttings from the treatment group. At the cooperative level, our primary outcomes are disease prevalence, harvest, and sales (of both cuttings and roots). At the farmer level, our primary outcomes are the adoption of improved cuttings.