Effect of network-based targeting on the diffusion of good aquaculture practices among shrimp producers in Vietnam

Guenwoo Lee, Aya Suzuki and Vu Nam ()

World Development, 2019, vol. 124, issue C, -

Abstract: In developing countries, social networks play a critical role in the transmission of information about new technologies and influence an individual’s decision to adopt the technology. Thus, this study considered a case of shrimp farmers in Vietnam to identify whether the farmers’ networks have positive effects on diffusing accurate agricultural information to the treated farmers and their neighbors. To explore the effects, we invited farmers selected using network-based targeting to a workshop held in December 2017 and estimated it using data obtained before and after the treatment. We found that: 1) the targeting has a positive effect on the treated farmers’ knowledge level about a good aquaculture practice; 2) The treated farmers selected using the network-based targeting share information with more neighbors when they get new information; and 3) The targeting has a positive spillover effect on untreated farmers' knowledge level, but its effect is lower than other randomly selected. These findings can conclude that network-based targeting appears to be a method to disseminate information to many people. Nevertheless, the methods are less likely to deliver accurate information to a wider group of farmers than random sampling.

Keywords: Better management practices; Betweenness centrality; Network-based targeting; Shrimp farming; Simple random sampling; Systematic unaligned random Sampling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C32 D80 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:124:y:2019:i:c:12

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104641

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