Contracting and quality upgrading: a pilot experiment in Senegal

Last registered on May 19, 2022

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Contracting and quality upgrading: a pilot experiment in Senegal

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0006315

Initial registration date

August 20, 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

August 21, 2020, 10:18 AM EDT

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

Last updated

May 19, 2022, 12:20 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Senegal

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Joshua Deutschmann

Affiliation

University of Chicago

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Tanguy Bernard

PI Affiliation

University of Bordeaux and IFPRI

PI Name

Ouambi Yameogo

PI Affiliation

IITA

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2019-07-01

End date

2022-12-01

Keywords

Agriculture, Behavior, Firms & Productivity, Health

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

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

Abstract

Aflatoxin is a serious public health threat in many low-income countries. In Senegal, where groundnuts are a primary crop for both home consumption and export, the problem is particularly critical: strict phytosanitary standards in the EU have closed Senegal’s biggest historical market. We study the roll-out of a new technology to control aflatoxin. In partnership with two farming cooperatives, we implement a randomized trial to test a contracting arrangement for use of the new technology and production of low-aflatoxin groundnuts.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Bernard, Tanguy, Joshua Deutschmann and Ouambi Yameogo. 2022. "Contracting and quality upgrading: a pilot experiment in Senegal." AEA RCT Registry. May 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6315-1.1

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2019-08-01

Intervention End Date

2022-07-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Technology adoption

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Pickup and use of the new technology, as measured in administrative data

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Quality; Commercial behavior

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Quality is defined as aflatoxin levels on a groundnut sample collected post-harvest. Commercial behavior is defined based on output allocation by farmers to cooperatives and other buyers.

Experimental Design

Cluster randomized control trial with cooperative members in Senegal. Treatment group farmers are offered a new contracting arrangement for the production of high-quality groundnuts using a new technology. Control farmers maintain their usual relationship with cooperatives.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office prior to baseline launch

Randomization Unit

Clustered at village level

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

40 villages in first year

Sample size: planned number of observations

400 farmers in first year

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

20 villages control, 20 villages treatment

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

Main outcome is adoption. MDE estimated as 0.04-0.07 percentage points, based on two estimates of control takeup from prior work: 0.10 (SD: 0.31) or 0.5 (SD: 0.5).

Supporting Documents and Materials

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