Driving Impact or Missing the Mark? Lessons learned from e-Extension Platform Deployment in Rural Sri Lanka

This study examines the impact of the Smart Extension and Efficient Decision-making (S.E.E.D) Hub, an integrated e-extension service implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in rural Sri Lanka. The S.E.E.D Hub aimed to improve agricultural outcomes by delivering geospatially tailored market and weather information, along with farming advisory services, through a user-friendly mobile application. The initiative sought to address key challenges faced by paddy farmers, including production efficiency, risk management, marketing strategies, and food security. The program’s impact was evaluated using a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) involving 2,200 paddy farmers across 220 Farmer Organizations (FOs), representative of Sri Lanka’s paddy-farming population. The results reveal that the S.E.E.D Hub significantly enhanced access to timely and relevant information, with a 50 percent increase observed among the compliers sub-population, as measured by the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE). Furthermore, the intervention promoted greater crop diversification and strengthened farmers’ capacity to market rice effectively, signaling potential long-term economic benefits. While the program produced some encouraging results, the absence of statistically significant effects on food security and vulnerability to harvest losses suggests that access to information alone is insufficient to improve resilience related outcomes, underscoring the need for more comprehensive and supportive interventions. Policymakers are encouraged to consider integrating such initiatives with broader support mechanisms, such as access to credit, financial risk mitigation tools, and investments in rural infrastructure, to maximize their impact on agricultural resilience and livelihoods.