Low Carbon Farming in Karnataka

Last registered on June 30, 2015
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Low Carbon Farming in Karnataka
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000751
Initial registration date
June 30, 2015

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
June 30, 2015, 5:54 AM EDT

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

Last updated
June 30, 2015, 5:55 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
India
Region
Karnataka

Primary Investigator

Name
Amma Serwaah-Panin
Affiliation
WZB Berlin Social Science Center
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Saikumar BC
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Ferdinand Vieider
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2015-07-01
End date
2016-03-31
Keywords
Agriculture, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This is a pilot to investigate the effects of a low carbon farming programme developed by an international network of NGOs. The target population are small and marginal farmers growing ragi (finger millet). Randomisation is carried out within village in two selected villages, with one additional village as control.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
BC, Saikumar, Amma Serwaah-Panin and Ferdinand Vieider. 2015. "Low Carbon Farming in Karnataka." AEA RCT Registry. June 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.751-2.0
Former Citation
BC, Saikumar, Amma Serwaah-Panin and Ferdinand Vieider. 2015. "Low Carbon Farming in Karnataka." AEA RCT Registry. June 30. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/751/history/4586
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Information programme on sustainable farming practices.
Intervention Start Date
2015-07-15
Intervention End Date
2016-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Treatment check: differences in farming behaviour between treatment and control farmers; conformity to recommendations by treatment farmers. Outcomes to be measured in farmer diaries.

Aggregate outcomes: over yield differences between treatment and control; differences in revenue and profits (revenues minus costs). Differences in soil quality and emissions (conditional on measuring instruments being in place).

Individual level: influence of farming practices at individual level for both treatment and control farmers; correlation with socio-demographic background characteristics; correlations with experimentally measured risk and time preferences; correlations with cognitive ability measures. Interaction effects of individual characteristics with the treatment.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Farmer diaries will be maintained to register farmer practices in both the treatment and control groups in detail. Village level volunteers will assist farmers in filling in said diaries in order to guarantee consistency and control quality of information.

Risk and time preferences will be measured using a so-called budget-line task. See Choi, Syngjoo, Raymond Fisman, Douglas Gale, & Shachar Kariv (2007). Consistency and Heterogeneity of Individual Behavior under Uncertainty. American Economic Review 97(5), 1921-1938, for an illustration for the method for risk; the method for time preferences follows a similar setup.

Cognitive ability tests: Raven matrices and the Stroop numerical task.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We use within-village randomisation at the individual level of eligible farmers. The treatment is offered to half the eligible farmers in both villages. The farmers are randomly selected (pure randomisation). An additional village is monitored as a control village.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomisation done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Farmers growing ragi in 2014. Randomisation at the individual farmer level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
144 excluding control village
Sample size: planned number of observations
144
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
72 in treatment
72 control
35 in control village (randomly selected from ragi growers in control village)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
pilot study only
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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