Communicating with Farmers through Social Networks

Ariel BenYishay and Ahmed Mobarak

Working Papers from Economic Growth Center, Yale University

Abstract: Low adoption of productive agricultural technologies is a puzzle. Agricultural extension services rely on external agents to communicate with farmers, although social networks are known to be the most credible source of information about new technologies. We conduct a large-scale field experiment on communication strategies in which extension workers are partnered with different members of social networks. We show that communicator actions and effort are susceptible to small performance incentives, and adoption rates vary by communicator type. Communicators who face conditions most comparable to target farmers are the most persuasive. Incorporating communication dynamics can enrich the literature on social learning.

Keywords: social learning; agriculture; technology adoption; Malawi (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 O33 Q16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2013-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-agr, nep-cdm, nep-dev, nep-ict, nep-net and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp1030.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Communicating with Farmers through Social Networks (2013)
Working Paper: Communicating with Farmers through Social Networks (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egc:wpaper:1030

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