Michael Kremer, Harvard University
Michael Kremer, Harvard University
Harnessing ICT to Increase Agricultural Production: Evidence From Kenya
Harnessing ICT to Increase Agricultural Production: Evidence From Kenya
03 Apr 201412:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Harvard faculty and doctoral students only
Location:
Baker Library | Bloomberg Center 103
"Harnessing ICT to Increase Agricultural Production: Evidence From Kenya"
Michael Kremer, Lorenzo Casaburi, Sendhil Mullainathan and Ravindra Ramrattan
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. Enabling farmers to report input provision delays to the company reduces the proportion of delays in fertilizer delivery by 21.6%. There is evidence that reporting a complaint has positive geographic spillovers, since it induces the company to deliver inputs to several neighboring plots.