By Sarobidy Rakotonarivo,
Soon after we completed our baseline data collection with ~ 1,300 household farmers in February 2024, my two PhD students Ravaka Ralandisoa and Fetra Randriamihary and I visited our study villages to discuss the nuts and bolts of the additional credit that we are planning to transfer to the village savings groups in our study villages.
Brainstorming with the field technicians who will be closely monitoring the village savings groups
The credit transfer is one of the two interventions that we are implementing in our randomized controlled trial (RCT). It is expected to incentivize investments in climate-smart agriculture and income-generating activities. Prof Julia Jones from Bangor University also joined us and helped us brainstorm on the final design decisions.
In our RCT, village savings groups in one group of villages will be provided some credit and a training in climate-resilient agriculture and agribusiness (aka “farmer business school” in
partnership with the Prada project of GIZ), the second group of villages will just be provided the training, and the third group will be a control group of villages and won’t benefit from any training at least during the first two years of the study.
We will use randomization, like flipping a coin, to decide which villages get the training alone, and the training and the credit. This helps ensure fairness and allows us to robustly test the impacts of these two interventions by eliminating any effects that might confound the results, i.e. anything else affecting the results besides what we are studying. Such robust evidence is critical to inform policymaking because it provides reliable information about what works and what doesn’t and help decision makers better weigh the costs and benefits, and choose the most effective and efficient approaches to achieve better outcomes for local communities and the environment.
Piloting the ‘Farmcard’ game with villagers and the PhD students Ravaka Ralandisoa and Fetra Randriamihary
Us posing with the field technicians
We carefully deliberated on how best to explain the randomization process to local communities to avoid any potential conflicts and misunderstandings. We also discussed at length the rules that will govern the use of the additional credit. The insights and experiences of field technicians that were involved in establishing the village savings groups were extremely helpful.
Me discussing with members of a village saving group
During our trip, we met a few the village savings groups and had in-depth discussions about how these groups function (mostly composed of farmers). They shared the benefits they have experienced so far from the groups and challenges they face. We were able to see the neatly completed ledger and observed that there were relatively few issues with default and theft. In our project, we plan to conduct frequent real-time monitoring of the VSLA functioning (which includes a fortnightly visit by field technicians equipped with a smartphone-based application).
Chaotic road conditions in rural Madagascar during the rainy season
Julia Jones hanging out with the kids’ village
We also used the opportunity to test a first draft of a novel framed field experiment (“Farmcard”, an experimental game) designed on the Netlogo software by Dr Andrew Bell from Cornell University, to explore how farmer borrowing behaviour might be changed by more liquidity in the VSLA. « Farmcard » will help us predict how two cash transfer schemes (to individual farmers vs village savings groups) affect farming and local well-being. It is played on tablets by groups of six people, and simulates real-life challenges like environmental and economic shocks faced by farmers in the region. This will help us study the impacts of cash transfers on agricultural investments and community welfare in a cost-effective way. The game outputs will also help inform and predict behaviour in the RCT.
Field trip film by Julia Jones
And amidst it all, this journey vividly brought back memories of undertaking fieldwork in Mantadia national park a decade ago (2014) when my PhD advisor Neal Hockley visited me in the villages. We experimented with different ways to explain the choice experiment methods to farmers back then (with very limited education – averaging three years of schooling), and to desensitize engagement in illegal activities (such as forest clearing for cultivation). We became very creative and ended up using dolls and colourful laminated papers and photos.
And of course, the trip also reminded me of what it looks like doing field work in remote areas with very basic standards of living and chaotic roads, especially in the rainy season. Yet, these experiences are always immensely rewarding, they are not just research; they are a testament to the profound connection we share with those in the remotest corners.