Impact of voice reminders to reinforce harvest aggregation services training for farmers in Mali (Impact Evaluation Report 90)

This evaluation set out to determine the impact on smallholder farmers’ crop handling practices and household income and health

Abstract

The study is based on a model where farmers are encouraged to decrease pre- and post-harvest losses through general training, after which they receive a series of mobile voice reminders. The targeted smallholder farmers received a mobile as part of the training package to ensure they could receive the reminders. The evaluation set out to determine the impact of this intervention on smallholder farmers’ crop handling practices and household income and health. The mobile voice reminders had a significant impact on the timing of grain harvest and on the adoption of improved grain storage methods. The reminders also significantly lowered the incidence of pre-harvest grain losses and of hunger. However, the reminders had no impact on the likelihood of selling grains through aggregation centres, on post-harvest grain losses, or on food crop incomes.

There is a brief based on this impact evaluation report.

This study is an output of the Agricultural Innovation Thematic Window programme

Citation

  • Osei, RD, Dzanku, FM, Osei-Akoto, I, Asante, F, Hodey, LS, Adu, PN, Adu-Ababio, K and Coulibaly, M, 2018. Impact of voice reminders to reinforce harvest aggregation services training for farmers in Mali, 3ie Impact Evaluation Report 90. New Delhi: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie). Available at: https://doi.org/10.23846/TW4IE90

  • International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), 2019, Using voice reminders to reinforce harvest training in Mali. Impact Evaluation Brief. New Delhi: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)

Published 1 December 2018