Methods of Inviting Farmers to Refer Fellow Farmers
KEN -18 -1433Last modified on December 19th, 2025 at 10:17 am
-
Abstract
PxD operates the MoA-INFO platform in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture to provide free agricultural recommendations to farmers via SMS messages.
This A/B test, conducted during the nationwide rollout of the MoA-INFO platform in July 2018, tested how referral invitations that were delivered via different channels—SMS only, a live phone call only, and both—affect referral behavior. The outcome measures were the likelihood of referring at least one farmer, the total number of referrals made, and the number of referred farmers who opted into the service. Half of the farmers selected to receive referral invitations were also randomly assigned to receive a message with information to dispel misconceptions about Fall Armyworm (FAW), in order to test whether these messages increased the likelihood of referring others.
Farmers made referrals by texting fellow farmers’ phone numbers to a short code. Referred farmers received an opt-in prompt. We find that a live-call invitation to refer farmers significantly increased both the likelihood and number of referrals, as well as the number of successful opt-ins from the referred farmers. Combining the live calls with SMS invitations further increased referral activities, particularly the likelihood of referring someone, although the incremental effect on opt-ins is not statistically significant. Receiving the misconception-dispelling messages had no significant effect on referrals. -
Status
Completed
-
Start date
Q3 Jul 2018
-
End date
Q3 Aug 2018
-
Experiment Location
Kenya
-
Partner Organization
Kenya Ministry of Agriculture
-
Agricultural season
Short Rains
-
Experiment type
A/B test
-
Sample frame / target population
MoA-INFO Platform Users (farmers)
-
Sample size
3,729
-
Outcome type
Service engagement
-
Mode of data collection
PxD administrative data, Automated survey, Phone survey
-
Research question(s)
1. Are farmers more likely to refer fellow farmers if invited to do so via an SMS message or encouraged to do so via a live phone call?
2. Are farmers who received the misconception messages more likely to refer fellow farmers? -
Research theme
Communication technology, Service design
-
Research Design
Farmers were able to refer fellow farmers to the MoA-INFO platform by texting phone numbers to shortcode 40130. Referred individuals who were not already registered received a welcome message prompting them to opt-in to the service.
MoA-INFO users were randomly selected to receive one of three referral treatments:
- SMS invitation only (n = 2,735): Farmers received a one-time SMS message inviting them to refer fellow farmers.
- Live phone call only (n = 747): During a live phone call that took place as part of a survey, farmers were encouraged to refer fellow farmers.
- SMS invitation + live phone call (n = 247): Farmers received both the SMS invitation and phone encouragement.
Referred farmers who were not already registered on the platform received the following message: “Welcome! A friend invited you to MoA-INFO, the Ministry of Agriculture’s free information service! Would you like to learn about Fall Armyworm? A. Yes B. No.” Farmers who replied “Yes” were directed to the registration survey; those who replied “No” received a message saying that, if they changed their mind, they could receive the information by texting “FARM” or “SHAMBA” at any time.
Half of the farmers invited to refer were selected to receive a set of messages addressing the most common misconceptions about FAW. The first message asked: “There are many lies and rumors being told about Fall Armyworm (FAW)! Do you want to learn the truth? A.Yes B. No”. Farmers who texted “Yes” received five facts to dispel misconceptions about FAW. Farmers who replied “No” received a message saying that the information could be accessed at any time by texting “TRUTH”. The objective was to test whether these messages increase the propensity to refer fellow farmers to the MoA-INFO platform.
-
Results
Farmers who received encouragement via a live phone call were more likely to make a referral (9.1%), compared to those who received SMS invitations (5.3%). Receiving both SMS invitations and phone calls further increased the referral rate to 12.15%. Farmers who received the phone call were 3.8 percentage points (pp) more likely to refer at least one person than those in the SMS-only group, and referred an average of 0.24 more farmers—both effects are statistically significant. The phone-call group also generated 0.0334 more referred farmers who opted-in per referring farmer, which is a statistically significant increase. Put differently, for every 100,000 phone calls, this translates into 3,340 additional registered users compared to SMS-only invitations. Farmers who received both the SMS and phone invitation were 6.84 pp more likely to refer someone and referred an average of 0.276 additional farmers; both these effects are statistically significant. However, the increase in the number of referred farmers who opted-in was not statistically significant. Finally, there was no evidence that receiving the misconception messages had an effect on referral outcomes.