IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejapp/v16y2024i2p219-48.html

Private Input Suppliers as Information Agents for Technology Adoption in Agriculture

Author

Listed:
  • Manzoor H. Dar
  • Alain de Janvry
  • Kyle Emerick
  • Elisabeth Sadoulet
  • Eleanor Wiseman

Abstract

Information frictions limit the adoption of new agricultural technologies in developing countries. Efforts to improve learning involve spreading information from government agents to farmers. We show that when compared to this government approach, informing private input suppliers in India about a new seed variety increases farmer-level adoption by over 50 percent. Suppliers become more proactive in informing potential customers and carrying the new variety. They induce increased adoption by those with higher returns from the technology. Being motivated by expanded sales offers the most likely motive for these results.

Suggested Citation

  • Manzoor H. Dar & Alain de Janvry & Kyle Emerick & Elisabeth Sadoulet & Eleanor Wiseman, 2024. "Private Input Suppliers as Information Agents for Technology Adoption in Agriculture," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 219-248, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:219-48
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20220037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20220037
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E183346V1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20220037.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20220037.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/app.20220037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Osiemo, Jamleck & Sibiko, Kenneth Waluse & Ng'ang'a, Stanley Karanja & Notenbaert, An M.O., 2024. "Are dairy farmers willing to pay for improved forage varieties? Experimental evidence from Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Kariuki, Sarah & Muteti, Francisca N. & Vudriko, Patrick & Ariong, Richard M. & Van Campenhout, Bjorn & Chamberlin, Jordan, 2025. "When the cure is worse than the disease: Acaricide use, tick resistance, and systemic constraints in Uganda’s dairy sector," GSSP working papers 2389, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Aker, Jenny C. & Dillon, Brian & Welch, C. Jamilah, 2023. "Demand, supply and long-term adoption: Evidence from a storage technology in West Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    4. Bin Khaled, Muhammad Nahian & Maredia, Mywish K. & Narayanan, Sudha & Belton, Ben & Kabir, Razin, 2025. "Nudging farmers toward disease-free shrimp technology with financial incentives: Experimental evidence from Bangladesh," IFPRI working papers 178761, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. de Janvry, Alain & Rao, Manaswini & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2025. "Seeding the seeds: Role of social structure in agricultural technology diffusion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    6. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O & Dillon, Andrew & Bloem, Jeffrey R. & Adjognon, Guigonan Serge, 2025. "Private sector promotion of agricultural technologies: Experimental evidence from Nigeria," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    7. Rutsaert, Pieter & Donovan, Jason & Murphy, Mike & Hoffmann, Vivian, 2024. "Farmer decision making for hybrid maize seed purchases: Effects of brand loyalty, price discounts and product information," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    8. repec:ags:aaea22:335821 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Hope Michelson, 2025. "Navigating the Measurement Frontier: New Insights Into Small Farm Realities," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 56(3), pages 526-542, May.
    10. Solomon Balew & Erwin Bulte & Zewdu Abro & Menale Kassie, 2023. "Incentivizing and nudging farmers to spread information: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(3), pages 994-1010, May.
    11. James R. Stevenson & Karen Macours & Douglas Gollin, 2023. "The Rigor Revolution: New Standards of Evidence for Impact Assessment of International Agricultural Research," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 15(1), pages 495-515, October.
    12. Grewer, Uwe & Kim, Dong-Hyuk & Waha, Katharina, 2024. "Too much, too soon? Early-maturing maize varieties as drought escape strategy in Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Shikuku, Kelvin Mashisia & Lepariyo, Watson Saewua & Obonyo, Meshack Baraza & Ochenje, Ibrahim, 2025. "Crowdsourcing initiatives and the diffusion of information: Experimental evidence from livestock keepers in Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    14. Puerto, Sergio, 2023. "Agriculture, innovation, and development: What happens when new technology is not good enough?," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335821, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:219-48. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.