Seeding innovation through reality TV
This project investigates whether agri-edutainment programs broadcasted on national television can help to meet the informational needs of farmers in Uganda.
The adoption of new agricultural technologies and improved farming practices are key elements of structural transformation and drivers of increased productivity in agriculture. Yet agrarian productivity remains far below its potential in many Sub-Saharan African countries, including Uganda. National Development Plans (NDP III) acknowledge the urgent need to boost productivity through agricultural extension. However, policymakers recognise that relying solely on traditional extension services will be expensive. The low ratio of extension staff to farmers in Uganda (1:5000) underscores the need to identify cost-effective solutions for delivery at scale.
Our project investigates whether agri-edutainment programs broadcasted on national television can help to meet the informational needs of farmers. This includes information on suitable agricultural technologies, market opportunities, input prices, and entrepreneurial opportunities that can guide farming households to navigate their daily business decisions. Two key distinguishing features of TV programmes are that 1) they can easily convey information to populations with relatively low literacy levels, and 2) they are easy to distribute at scale compared to traditional extension services. TV may also be a particularly useful medium to mitigate gender gaps in access and effectiveness of traditional extension services.
Prior market research in Kenya indicates that a “makeover style” reality television show focused on farming as a business helped to boost farmer incomes at a cost of only USD 0.50 per viewer. We leverage the planned rollout of this television program to Uganda in 2022/23 to measure the causal impact and cost-effectiveness of the show in diffusing recommended techniques. The research methodology involves a randomised controlled trial where a group of rural farmers is encouraged to watch the show while another group is encouraged to watch a competing show broadcast simultaneously. We will shed light on farmers’ learning and adoption process by studying the role of information provided to urban and rural contacts of control group farmers.
