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One Size Fits All? Experimental Evidence on the Digital Delivery of Personalized Extension Advice in Nigeria

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  • Aminou Arouna
  • Jeffrey D. Michler
  • Wilfried G. Yergo
  • Kazuki Saito

Abstract

Blanket advice on optimal fertilizer application rates has failed to achieve potential yield gains for crop production in much of Sub‐Saharan Africa. However, digital technology now makes it possible to deliver personalized extension services to farmers at a much lower cost. We present results from a randomized control trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile application that provides personalized advice on rice nutrient management. We find that households who were just given the personalized advice increase their yield by 7% and increase their profit by 10%. On average, personalized advice increases yields without increasing the overall quantity of fertilizer used. We conclude that the scaling of personalized extension services could improve productivity and livelihoods in Sub‐Saharan Africa without necessarily increasing the total amount of fertilizer in use.

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  • Aminou Arouna & Jeffrey D. Michler & Wilfried G. Yergo & Kazuki Saito, 2021. "One Size Fits All? Experimental Evidence on the Digital Delivery of Personalized Extension Advice in Nigeria," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(2), pages 596-619, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:ajagec:v:103:y:2021:i:2:p:596-619
    DOI: 10.1111/ajae.12151
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    Cited by:

    1. Arouna, Aminou & Michler, Jeffrey D. & Lokossou, Jourdain C., 2021. "Contract farming and rural transformation: Evidence from a field experiment in Benin," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    2. Lin, Yang & Hu, Ruifa & Zhang, Chao & Chen, Kevin, 2022. "The role of public agricultural extension services in driving fertilizer use in rice production in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    3. Abate, Gashaw T. & Bernard, Tanguy & Makhija, Simrin & Spielman, David J., 2023. "Accelerating technical change through ICT: Evidence from a video-mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Chandio, Abbas Ali & Ozdemir, Dicle & Gokmenoglu, Korhan K. & Usman, Muhammad & Jiang, Yuansheng, 2024. "Digital agriculture for sustainable development in China: The promise of computerization," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Miller, Scott & Mullally, Conner, 2022. "Investigating the Inclusive-Performance Tradeoff in Agricultural Cooperatives: Evidence from Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    6. Elizabeth Ahikiriza & Joshua Wesana & Xavier Gellynck & Guido Van Huylenbroeck & Ludwig Lauwers, 2021. "Context Specificity and Time Dependency in Classifying Sub-Saharan Africa Dairy Cattle Farmers for Targeted Extension Farm Advice: The Case of Uganda," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Campenhout, Bjorn Van, 2021. "ICTs to Address Information Inefficiencies in Food Supply Chains," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315054, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Yi Cai & Wene Qi & Famin Yi, 2023. "Smartphone use and willingness to adopt digital pest and disease management: Evidence from litchi growers in rural China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 131-147, January.
    9. repec:ags:aaea22:335635 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Campenhout, Bjorn Van, 2021. "ICTs to Address Information Inefficiencies in Food Supply Chains," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 313801, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Maertens, Miet & Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Chamberlin, Jordan, 2023. "Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    12. Zengwei Xu & Jing Li & Jiliang Ma, 2022. "Impacts of Extension Contact on the Adoption of Formulated Fertilizers and Farm Performance among Large-Scale Farms in Rural China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, November.
    13. Haisen Wang & Gangqiang Yang & Ziyang Yue, 2023. "Breaking through ingrained beliefs: revisiting the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    14. Mao, Hui & Chai, Yujia & Shao, Xiaoxuan & Chang, Xue, 2024. "Digital extension and farmers' adoption of climate adaptation technology: An empirical analysis of China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    15. Ni Zhuo & Baozhi Li & Qibiao Zhu & Chen Ji, 2023. "Smartphone‐based agricultural extension services and farm incomes: Evidence from Zhejiang Province in China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1383-1402, August.
    16. 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).
    17. Baozhi Li & Ni Zhuo & Chen Ji & Qibiao Zhu, 2022. "Influence of Smartphone-Based Digital Extension Service on Farmers’ Sustainable Agricultural Technology Adoption in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-14, August.
    18. Julissa Alexandra Galarza-Villamar & Mariette McCampbell & Andres Galarza-Villamar & Cees Leeuwis & Francesco Cecchi & John Galarza-Rodrigo, 2021. "A Public Bad Game Method to Study Dynamics in Socio-Ecological Systems (Part II): Results of Testing Musa-Game in Rwanda and Adding Emergence and Spatiality to the Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.

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