AEA RCT Registry

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Offering Postharvest Credit to Improve Farmer Welfare

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0008022

Initial registration date

November 09, 2021

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

November 10, 2021, 11:05 AM EST

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

Last updated

April 29, 2023, 11:27 AM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

Ethan Ligon

Affiliation

University of California, Berkeley

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Ethan Ligon

PI Affiliation

UC Berkeley

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2021-11-15

End date

2024-12-31

Keywords

Agriculture, Finance & Microfinance

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

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

Abstract

We study the effects of providing postharvest loan to farmers in Gombe State, Nigeria. While previous studies have shown high rates of returns to postharvest credit in East Africa, they fail to detect impacts on consumption, investment or borrowing (Burke et al 2019; Channa et al 2018). We partner with a local NGO providing postharvest credit to randomly assign postharvest loans to groups of applicants. We employ high-frequency data collection and conduct a series of choice experiments to measure the program's effects on consumption and intertemporal marginal rates of substitution throughout the year. We also plan to randomize the interest rate at which loans are offered to measure how this affects farmer welfare and overall cost effectiveness of the program.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Ligon, Ethan and Ethan Ligon. 2023. "Offering Postharvest Credit to Improve Farmer Welfare." AEA RCT Registry. April 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8022-2.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We study the effects of providing postharvest loan to farmers in Gombe State, Nigeria. While previous studies have shown high rates of returns to postharvest credit in East Africa, they fail to detect impacts on consumption, investment or borrowing (Burke et al 2019; Channa et al 2018). We partner with a local NGO providing postharvest credit to randomly assign postharvest loans to groups of applicants. We employ high-frequency data collection and conduct a series of choice experiments to measure the program's effects on consumption and intertemporal marginal rates of substitution throughout the year.

Intervention Start Date

2021-11-15

Intervention End Date

2024-11-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Amounts of grain stored, revenues from grain sales, seasonal consumption profiles, (estimated) intertemporal marginal rates of substitution

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

The IMRS will be estimated from a series of choice experiments eliciting preferences over purchasing an artificial "bond" at different prices, as well as from estimating a demand system from consumption data following Ligon (2021).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We will randomize loan offers to groups of 5 farmers that apply for loans from our study partner. Among groups offered loans, half will be offered cash loans and half will be offered loans in-kind of an equivalent value of maize (about 200 USD). In subsequent years, we will additional elicit interest rates at which a group is willing to borrow and then randomly implement one of those choices.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer.

Randomization Unit

Farmer groups of five members

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

200 farmer groups in year 1. 500 farmer groups in years 2-3.

Sample size: planned number of observations

1,000 observations in year 1. 2500 observations in years 2-3.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

66 farmer groups (330 farmers) in each of cash loan, maize loan and control in year 1. 165 each in years 2 and 3.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

UC Berkeley IRB

IRB Approval Date

2021-11-09

IRB Approval Number

00006252

Analysis Plan