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Social learning in agriculture: does smallholder heterogeneity impede technology diffusion in Sub-Saharan Africa?

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  • Macours, Karen
  • Behaghel, Luc
  • Gignoux, Jérémie

Abstract

Evaluating a large-scale program for dairy farmers in Uganda, we show that a simple version of the “contact farmer†extension model can meaningfully increase smallholder farmers’ revenues. While the program provides no monetary incentives, we find evidence that two other ingredients – backstopping by professional extension agent and advertising pro-social motivation – reinforce its impacts. Though it has been hypothesized to be a major impediment to social learning in Sub- Saharan African agriculture, we do not find smallholder heterogeneity to condition the effectiveness of the approach: farmer trainers trained to take this heterogeneity into consideration do not perform better; moreover, we find no statistical evidence that program effects vary by farmers’ characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Macours, Karen & Behaghel, Luc & Gignoux, Jérémie, 2020. "Social learning in agriculture: does smallholder heterogeneity impede technology diffusion in Sub-Saharan Africa?," CEPR Discussion Papers 15220, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15220
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    Cited by:

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    3. Mohamed Abouaziza, 2022. "Farmer constraints and relational contracts: evidence from agricultural value chains in East Africa," Economics PhD Theses 0122, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    4. Berazneva, Julia & Maertens, Annemie & Mhango, Wezi & Michelson, Hope, 2023. "Paying for agricultural information in Malawi: The role of soil heterogeneity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural productivity; Heterogeneity; Extension; Livestock; Social learning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services

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