Harnessing ICT to Increase Agricultural Production: Evidence From Kenya

Out­line

Send­ing SMS mes­sages with agri­cul­tur­al ad­vice to small­hold­er farm­ers in­creased yields by 11.5% rel­a­tive to a con­trol group with no mes­sages. These ef­fects are con­cen­trat­ed among farm­ers who had no agron­o­my train­ing and had lit­tle in­ter­ac­tion with sug­ar cane com­pa­ny staff at base­line. A fol­low-up tri­al of the same in­ter­ven­tion has, how­ev­er, no sig­nif­i­cant im­pact on yields.

Re­search Team

Author

Lorenzo Casaburi

Associate Professor of Development Economics

Zurich ZCED

Michael Kre­mer

Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty

Send­hil Mul­lainathan

Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty

Ravin­dra Ram­rat­tan

In­no­va­tions for Pover­ty Ac­tion