DP15584 Private Input Suppliers as Information Agents for Technology Adoption in Agriculture

• Kyle Emerick Alain De Janvry Elisabeth Sadoulet Manzoor Dar Eleanor Wiseman
21 Dec 2020

Information frictions limit the adoption of new agricultural technologies in developing countries. Most public-sector interventions to eliminate these frictions target information directly at select farmers. We show that an information intervention targeted at private input suppliers increases farmer-level adoption by over 50 percent compared to this public-sector approach. These newly informed suppliers become more proactive in carrying the new variety, informing potential customers, and in increasing adoption by those most likely to benefit from the technology. They do so in a long-term perspective of reputation building and business development.