| Abstract: |
Despite growing enthusiasm about the potential of digital innovations to
transform agrifood systems, adoption among smallholder farmers in Africa
remains low and heterogeneous. While the proliferation of digital tools
targeting smallholder farmers is encouraging, the vast majority remain at
pilot stages, facing important demand and supply-side barriers to adoption.
This paper evaluates alternative digital literacy interventions designed to
address these demand-side barriers. Following a Training of Trainers (TOT)
model, we designed and implemented a randomized control trial to test three
variants of digital literacy training: standard classroom-based digital
literacy training (T1), digital training complemented (preceded) by a
video-based play (T2), digital training complemented (preceded) by a live
community play (T3), and a control group (C). We find that all variants of
digital training significantly increased the uptake and utilization of digital
tools by smallholder farmers. Specifically, the standard digital training
alone increased uptake by 20 percentage points and utilization by 26
percentage points. The interventions also significantly enhanced farmer trust
in digital tools by 8–13 percentage points. Surprisingly, for some outcomes,
the digital literacy training alone outperformed the combined approaches that
incorporated edutainment nudges. We explore possible explanations, including
group size effects and social influence dynamics during the plays. We also
document heterogeneity in the impact of these interventions across farmers’
gender and age. Our findings offer insights for designing cost effective and
scalable interventions to build digital capabilities and trust among
smallholder farmers. |