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Field
Last Published
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Before
June 25, 2021 01:39 PM
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After
October 10, 2021 10:36 PM
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Intervention (Public)
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Before
The main goal is to connect farmers on social media groups to test traditional social learning and technology adoption theories in a new dimension of virtual interactions. We will test the influence of connecting farmers from different villages onto the same platform, a moderated Whatsapp group, to enable engagement in conversations about new technology. This influence will be compared to farmers from the same village being connected on the same platform, to check for interaction effects of virtual learning with in-person peers.
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After
The main goal is to connect farmers on social media groups to test traditional social learning and technology adoption theories in a new dimension of virtual interactions. We will test the influence of connecting farmers from different villages onto the same platform, a moderated Whatsapp group, to enable engagement in conversations about new technology. This influence will be compared to another treatment group, where farmers, before being added to the moderated Whatsapp group, will be offered to meet in-person with their Whatsapp peers- thereby simulating an in-person connection.
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Intervention Start Date
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Before
August 15, 2021
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After
November 10, 2021
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
April 30, 2022
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After
May 30, 2022
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Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Smartphone agriculture technology adoption and usage: Are farmers more likely to adopt agriculture mobile phone applications if they are connected to other peers using these applications?
Learning from virtual vs in-person peers: Is learning different for farmers interacting on Whatsapp with virtual peers from other villages, or do virtual interactions with known farmers from the same village complement learning?
for a specific pest-diagnostic smartphone application Plantix, as well as amount of crop-loss due to pests.
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After
Smartphone agriculture technology adoption and usage: Are farmers more likely to adopt and engage in agriculture mobile phone applications if they are connected to other peers using these applications?
Learning from virtual vs in-person peers: Is learning different for farmers interacting on Whatsapp with virtual peers from other villages, or do virtual interactions with known farmers from the same village complement learning?
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Field
Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
We will create across-village and within-village Whatsapp groups to enable farmer interaction about smartphone agriculture technologies. For the Across-village treatment group, sampled farmers from non-neighboring villages will be connected on a Whatsapp group. For the Within-village group, sampled farmers from the same village will be connected to a Whatsapp group.
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After
We will create 2 treatment arms with across-village Whatsapp groups to enable farmer interaction about smartphone agriculture technologies. Sampled farmers from non-neighboring villages will be connected on a Whatsapp group in both arms. In one treatment group, other than the Whatsapp group, farmers will also be encouraged to meet their Whatsapp peers in-person on a monthly basis to simulate an in-person connection.
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Randomization Unit
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Before
This study will use a two-stage randomization method. First, villages will be randomized into 1 pure control and 2 treatments. Then within each village, a random sample of at least 10 farmers will be surveyed.
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After
This study uses a two-stage randomization method. First, 114 villages were randomly selected in the Chittoor district of India. Then within each village, a random sample of at least 10 farmers were surveyed.
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Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
A total of 100 village clusters.
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After
A total of 114 village clusters.
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Building on Existing Work
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Before
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After
No
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