Impacts of weather-related information provided to smallholder farmers through SMS on labor allocation, yield and income: Evidence from a pilot randomised controlled trial in north Benin

Last registered on March 09, 2020

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Impacts of weather-related information provided to smallholder farmers through SMS on labor allocation, yield and income: Evidence from a pilot randomised controlled trial in north Benin
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005039
Initial registration date
March 08, 2020

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
March 09, 2020, 7:48 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Faculty of Agronomy, University of Parakou (Benin)

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Recherches sur les Dynamiques Economiques et Sociales (LARDES), Faculté d’Agronomie, Université de Parakou, Bénin
PI Affiliation
Bureau de Recherche et de Développement en Agriculture (BReDA- ONG)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2018-02-01
End date
2020-06-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Most of the existing studies on climate change adaptation are descriptive or explanatory, and focused on the socio-economic determinants of the farmers’ perception and adaptation. We design a pilot theory-based Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to test the impact of providing smallholder farmers with weather-related information through mobile phone SMS. Our outcome variables include labor, yield and farm income.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Aihounton, Ghislain D. B. , Aline M. ALOUKOUTOU and Rosaine N. Yegbemey. 2020. "Impacts of weather-related information provided to smallholder farmers through SMS on labor allocation, yield and income: Evidence from a pilot randomised controlled trial in north Benin." AEA RCT Registry. March 09. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5039-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Our intervention is “providing weather-related information through mobile phone Short Message Service (SMS)” and the target population are maize farmers.
Intervention Start Date
2018-03-01
Intervention End Date
2018-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Labor
Yield
Farm income
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Labor = Total labor cost
Yield = Harvest per ha of land
Farm income = Benefit

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The proposed research is a pilot. Our experiment involves 6 villages selected with the support of agricultural extension officers. To ensure this, the agricultural extension officers will be associated at this stage of the study. Following the RCT design, 3 villages are randomly assigned to the treatment group (treatment villages) and the other 3 to the control group (control villages). Randomization is conducted through a public lottery. After a listing, about 50 eligible maize producers are randomly selected in each village. At the farmers-level, eligibility criteria include: a) farmers should be maize producers, b) farmers should plan to produce maize during the rainy season of 2018/2019, c) farmers should own a mobile phone, including valid and functional line number, and d) farmers should have the ability to operate (i.e. read SMS) their mobile phone. Farmers in treatment villages receive weather forecasts information. Farmers in control villages receive no intervention.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Public lottery
Randomization Unit
Village
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
6 clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
300 smallholder farmers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment group: 3 villages, 150 smallholder farmers.
Control group: 3 villages, 150 smallholder farmers
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
0.80 SD
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Comité Local d’Ethique pour la Recherche Biomédicale, Université de Parakou, Benin (CLERB-UP)
IRB Approval Date
2018-03-14
IRB Approval Number
0087/CLERB-UP/P/SP/R?SA

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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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