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Impact Evaluation of Digital Extension Platform

IND -20 -1252

    Basic Information

  • Experiment rationale and/or abstract
    PxD operates a free agriculture information service delivered over mobile phones, in collaboration with a State Government Department of Agriculture in India using a two-way IVR platform with "outbound" push calls and "inbound" hotline service.

    The primary aim of the evaluation is to rigorously assess the impact of the service on rice productivity over multiple seasons. The research will also measure the impact of the service on intermediate outcomes, including farmers’ agricultural knowledge and practices, and calculate the benefit-cost ratio of the intervention.

    There are two secondary objectives. First, the study will test low-cost approaches to measuring yields. Specifically, it will assess the feasibility of using satellite images to estimate farmers’ rice yields. This work will help address a common empirical challenge of evaluating digital extension and other agricultural interventions. Second the study will generate further learnings on message and service designs that could increase the impact of digital extension on productivity by incorporating A/B tests within the treatment group to trial new content, functions, and delivery mechanisms.
  • Status
    Ongoing
  • Start date
    Q4 Oct 2020
  • Experiment Location
    India
  • Partner Organization
    _N/A
  • Agricultural season
    Kharif

    • Research Design

  • Experiment type
    Impact Evaluation
  • Sample frame / target population
    Paddy farmers
  • Sample size
    20,000
  • Outcome type
    Farming practices, Knowledge, Profits, Yields
  • Method of Measurement
    Remote sensing/GIS, Phone survey, In-person survey
  • Research question(s)/hypotheses
    Please explain any student visa work permission conditions, if relevant.
    - Does access to the service increase the productivity of paddy farmers, and if so, by what magnitude?
    - How do impacts vary by land and farmer characteristics?
    - What is the cost-benefit ratio of the service?
    - Does the service impact the adoption of key agricultural inputs and practices among paddy farmers?
  • Research theme
    IVR, Impact Evaluation, Measurement methods

    • Results

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Date Result Anticipated
Add reminder to Google Calendar to update your entry on: 31 Jan 2023

The PxD Experiment Registry is an online tool for documenting and tracking PxD's experimental research projects and outcomes. The registry includes experiments where we are deliberately testing something and measuring outcomes from simple A/B tests comparing different versions of a service to large scale impact evaluations and RCTs. The registry does not include general surveys, studies, or pilot projects that did not include an experimental component, for example our Covid-19 surveys. The various fields of the registry can be searched and filtered using set criteria, and the results of these searches are exportable.  Please contact communications@precisiondev.org if you have any questions or publishing queries.

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