Impact Evaluation of Cashew Subsidy Pilot in Mozambique

Last registered on January 25, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Impact Evaluation of Cashew Subsidy Pilot in Mozambique
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008618
Initial registration date
January 24, 2022

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
January 25, 2022, 10:24 AM EST

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
John Loeser
Affiliation
World Bank
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Paul Christian
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Florence Kondylis
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Astrid Zwager
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Steven Glover
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-05-03
End date
2022-06-30
Keywords
Agriculture, Behavior, Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
Agriculture in Developing Countries, Spraying services for pesticides, Chemical pesticide subsidy provision
JEL code(s)
O13, Q12, Q13
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This impact evaluation will study changes in subsidy delivery modality for tree spraying pesticides in the cashew sector in Mozambique, measuring the change from quota-based distribution of pesticides to intermediaries (sprayers) to voucher-based distribution of pesticides to intermediaries, where farmers submit vouchers with intermediaries of their choice who in turn submit these vouchers to input distributors. While the subsidy was put in place by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER) to revitalize the Mozambican cashew sector, government budgetary constraints have motivated a gradual phase out of the current quota system. This IE evaluates the current proposed approach - shifting from free distribution to vouchers, and then slowly shrinking the rate of subsidy farmers receive from the voucher. However, the transition from quota-based distribution to vouchers introduces additional logistical challenges - this IE aims to isolate the resulting impact of the change in modality on the set of farmers covered.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Christian, Paul et al. 2022. "Impact Evaluation of Cashew Subsidy Pilot in Mozambique." AEA RCT Registry. January 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8618
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Status quo arm ("Control"): Under the status quo, sprayers are provided with a fixed quantity of pesticide chemicals from warehouses from the Mozambique Nuts Institute (IAM).

Voucher arm ("Treatment"): A voucher program will be piloted to support the transition to a private sector model in three localities in Nampula province in northern Mozambique. The voucher delivery system pilot allows preidentified sprayers to obtain free pesticide chemicals for preidentified farmers from either warehouses from the IAM, agrodealers, or a private sector vendor depending on their locality. To receive these vouchers, sprayers provide TechnoServe (TNS), a non-profit organization with experience in the cashew industry in Mozambique, and IAM extension agents a list of farmers they worked with during the 2020 spraying season and are planning to work with in the 2021 season. Based on this list, sprayers will receive six personalized vouchers for each of the farmers on their list, two for each of the three sprayings to be applied over the course of the spraying season. While three of the six vouchers are used by the sprayer to redeem chemicals, the other three vouchers act as a receipt for the farmer on the quantity of chemicals they should receive. Each voucher includes the name of the farmer, the number of active trees, the quantity of chemicals that can be redeemed with it, the value of the chemicals in Meticais, and where it can be redeemed. The quantity of chemicals listed depends on the number of active trees a farmer has. The vouchers are distributed to farmers through sprayers and are only valid if they are signed by both the sprayer and the farmer.
Intervention Start Date
2021-07-19
Intervention End Date
2021-10-06

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Farmer level outcomes
- Voucher use
- Number of sprayings carried out
- Number of trees sprayed
- Quantity of chemicals used
- Cashew yields per tree
- Cashew sales
- Cost of sprayings

Sprayer level outcomes
- Voucher use
- Number of clients
- Number of sprayings carried out per client
- Number of trees sprayed per client
- Chemicals used per spraying
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Farmer level outcomes
- Total revenue from crop sales
- Quantity and value of cashew aggregated

Sprayer level outcomes
- Quantity and value of cashew aggregated
- Cashew yields per tree
- Cashew sales
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Random assignment of sprayers and farmers to treatment arms that differ in subsidy delivery modality. This allows us to estimate the impact of implementing a voucher system for subsidy delivery on availability and use of chemical pesticides.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
The randomization was carried out used the randtreat command in Stata on an office computer.
Randomization Unit
The randomization of treatment assignment is done at the cluster (sprayer) level while the unit of observation, at which surveys are administered, is the farmer.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
34 sprayers and associated farmers
Sample size: planned number of observations
845 farmers and 34 sprayers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
497 treatment 366 control farmers
19 treatment 15 control sprayers
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Number of sprayings carried out: Based on data shared by TNS, farmers in all three localities received on average 1.94 sprayings per cashew growing season with a standard deviation of 0.63 sprayings. As a result, the MDE for number of sprayings received is 0.11 sprayings which is equivalent to a 5.67% change compared to the mean. Share of trees sprayed: Based on data shared by TNS, the average share of trees sprayed once in total trees owned by farmers in all three localities was 82.43% with a standard deviation 27.45. As a result, the MDE for share of trees sprayed is 5.23 ppts which is equivalent to a 6.34% change compared to the mean.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Solutions IRB
IRB Approval Date
2021-11-03
IRB Approval Number
#2021/08/29
Analysis Plan