Personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India

Productivity growth in smallholder agriculture is an important driver of rural economic development and poverty reduction. However, smallholder farmers often have limited access to information, which can be a serious constraint for increasing productivity. One potential mechanism to reduce informati...

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Autores principales:	Pallavi Rajkhowa, Matin Qaim
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ab23abfbb8194d1280a9e506d0f4d372
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ab23abfbb8194d1280a9e506d0f4d3722021-11-04T06:49:37ZPersonalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India1932-6203https://doaj.org/article/ab23abfbb8194d1280a9e506d0f4d3722021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8553076/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Productivity growth in smallholder agriculture is an important driver of rural economic development and poverty reduction. However, smallholder farmers often have limited access to information, which can be a serious constraint for increasing productivity. One potential mechanism to reduce information constraints is the public agricultural extension service, but its effectiveness has often been low in the past. Digital technologies could enhance the effectiveness of extension by reducing outreach costs and helping to better tailor the information to farmers’ individual needs and conditions. Using primary data from India, this study analyses the association between digital extension services and smallholder agricultural performance. The digital extension services that some of the farmers use provide personalized information on the types of crops to grow, the types and quantities of inputs to use, and other methods of cultivation. Problems of selection bias in the impact evaluation are reduced through propensity score matching (PSM) combined with estimates of farmers’ willingness to pay for digital extension. Results show that use of personalized digital extension services is positively and significantly associated with input intensity, production diversity, crop productivity, and crop income.Pallavi RajkhowaMatin QaimPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Pallavi Rajkhowa Matin Qaim Personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India
description	Productivity growth in smallholder agriculture is an important driver of rural economic development and poverty reduction. However, smallholder farmers often have limited access to information, which can be a serious constraint for increasing productivity. One potential mechanism to reduce information constraints is the public agricultural extension service, but its effectiveness has often been low in the past. Digital technologies could enhance the effectiveness of extension by reducing outreach costs and helping to better tailor the information to farmers’ individual needs and conditions. Using primary data from India, this study analyses the association between digital extension services and smallholder agricultural performance. The digital extension services that some of the farmers use provide personalized information on the types of crops to grow, the types and quantities of inputs to use, and other methods of cultivation. Problems of selection bias in the impact evaluation are reduced through propensity score matching (PSM) combined with estimates of farmers’ willingness to pay for digital extension. Results show that use of personalized digital extension services is positively and significantly associated with input intensity, production diversity, crop productivity, and crop income.
format	article
author	Pallavi Rajkhowa Matin Qaim
author_facet	Pallavi Rajkhowa Matin Qaim
author_sort	Pallavi Rajkhowa
title	Personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India
title_short	Personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India
title_full	Personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India
title_fullStr	Personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India
title_full_unstemmed	Personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India
title_sort	personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: evidence from smallholder farmers in india
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/ab23abfbb8194d1280a9e506d0f4d372
work_keys_str_mv	AT pallavirajkhowa personalizeddigitalextensionservicesandagriculturalperformanceevidencefromsmallholderfarmersinindia AT matinqaim personalizeddigitalextensionservicesandagriculturalperformanceevidencefromsmallholderfarmersinindia
_version_	1718445108566687744

Personalized digital extension services and agricultural performance: Evidence from smallholder farmers in India

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