Back to History Current Version

Technology Upgrading in Agricultural Export Supply Chains: A Field Experiment in Vietnam

Last registered on February 01, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Technology Upgrading in Agricultural Export Supply Chains: A Field Experiment in Vietnam
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003237
Initial registration date
August 15, 2018

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
August 21, 2018, 12:30 AM EDT

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

Last updated
February 01, 2019, 3:16 AM EST

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

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Hong Kong

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2017-08-01
End date
2020-08-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This proposed project studies technology upgrading in an export supply chain of the dragon fruit industry of Vietnam. Despite demand for high-quality fruits from overseas markets, the supply of dragon fruits that meet export standards is surprisingly low. Observations on agricultural practices show persistent use of low technology along the supply chain. One potential key explanation for the lack of supply of export-quality dragon fruits is that farmers and intermediaries lack the information and technological resources that are necessary to produce and trade high-quality agricultural products. I plan to test this hypothesis through a randomized control trial which generates exogenous variation in access to training on an export-oriented agricultural technology for dragon fruit farmers and intermediaries.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Park, Sangyoon. 2019. "Technology Upgrading in Agricultural Export Supply Chains: A Field Experiment in Vietnam." AEA RCT Registry. February 01. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3237-2.0
Former Citation
Park, Sangyoon. 2019. "Technology Upgrading in Agricultural Export Supply Chains: A Field Experiment in Vietnam." AEA RCT Registry. February 01. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3237/history/40923
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention will offer farmers and intermediaries the opportunity to receive training on applying a new export-oriented technology for growing and processing dragon fruits. I use this exogenous variation to understand whether and how technology upgrading occurs in the supply chain.
Intervention Start Date
2018-09-01
Intervention End Date
2019-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Primary outcomes: Product quality measured as percentage of practices that meet GAP standards or laboratory test results on pesticide analysis and the sweetness of fruit; Export volume; Investment; Profits
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The two primary measures of product quality employed in this study are field observations and laboratory test results regarding compliance to Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). For field-based measures, our survey team will visit farms and collection facilities, operated by intermediaries, to evaluate whether current practices meet or exceed the standards recognized by GLOBAL GAP. For laboratory testing on product quality, we plan to hire a company based in Ho Chi Minh city that specializes in food quality testing. Lab test procedures mainly include pesticide residue testing and sweetness measurement. Our research team will collect fruit samples from farms and send them to the laboratory.

The advantages of employing both observational and lab-based measures of product quality are threefold. First, it is practical from the farmer’s and intermediary’s points of view since GLOBAL GAP certification, which is the primary requirement for entering most export markets in the world (UNCTD, 2007), also requires on the field inspections and lab testing. Second, GLOBAL GAP provides a list of standardized practices that can be verified not only by our survey team but also by intermediaries whereas lab testing is costly and in most cases impossible for a single intermediary to implement. Thus, our field-based measure captures what intermediaries may exclusively rely on to infer about product quality. Third, lab test results can provide an accurate measure of product quality in terms of food safety and sweetness which can be used to complement observational measures of quality.

Finally, investment and profit outcomes will be constructed using responses to surveys.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
I will conduct a randomized control trial (RCT) on dragon fruit farmers and intermediaries to examine the effect of information and technology transfers on the adoption of export-oriented agricultural technologies and trading practices. Specifically, I will randomly provide a subset of farmers and intermediaries with the opportunity to participate in information and training sessions on the farming and trading of export-quality dragon fruits.
Experimental Design Details
I plan to conduct a two-stage randomized control trial (RCT) on dragon fruit farmers and intermediaries to examine the effect of information and technology transfers on the adoption of export-oriented agricultural technologies and trading practices. In the first stage, a random subset of farmers and intermediaries receive offers to participate in training sessions on farming and trading of export-quality dragon fruits. In the second stage, I randomly offer farmers with access to a product quality verification technology that provides results from laboratory tests on pesticide residue and sweetness. The second stage allows me to study an alternative hypothesis to why technology upgrading is slow in agricultural supply chains in developing countries. That is, in the presence of asymmetric information on product quality between farmers and intermediaries there might few incentives to invest and engage in producing high-quality goods. Providing laboratory test results may alleviate this information problem and incentivize farmers to upgrade product quality and intermediaries to invest in their trading practices.

The experiment is designed with three different treatment groups in the first stage which are each additionally divided into lab test treatment and control in the second stage. In the first treatment group (Treatment 1), only farmers will be invited to the information and training sessions. In the second treatment group (Treatment 2), only intermediaries will be invited to training sessions. In the third treatment group (Treatment 3), both farmers and intermediaries will be offered the information and training opportunity. Farmers and intermediaries in the control group (Control) will receive no information or training specific to upgrading product quality for exporting but they will be briefly reminded about potential exporting opportunities. The second stage randomly assigns farmers within each treatment arm to treatment (Lab Test) and control. Farmers in the Lab Test group are offered the chance to send their fruit to a food testing laboratory for pesticide residue analysis and sweetness testing. Farmers in the control group receive no intervention other than participating in the follow-up survey.

Randomization Method
Using a computer in my office I will implement stratified random sampling based on data collected from a baseline survey.
Randomization Unit
Sub-commune level
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
100 villages
Sample size: planned number of observations
800 farmers and 300 intermediaries
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
75 villages (approximately 600 farmers and 240 intermediaries) to one of three treatment groups, 25 villages (approximately 200 farmers and 60 intermediaries) to control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Holding the sample size of each treatment group at 150 farmers and 70 intermediaries and significance level at 0.05, the statistical power for detecting a 40 percentage point increase in agricultural technology is about 0.97 with farmers and 0.76 with intermediaries, respectively.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Hong Kong
IRB Approval Date
2017-07-19
IRB Approval Number
EA1703013
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials