Incentivizing Social Learning for the Diffusion of Climate-Smart Agricultural Techniques
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World Bank, Washington, DC
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Unsustainable land use is a key
threat to both economic development and environmental
conservation in developing countries. This study implemented
a randomized controlled trial in arid Burkina Faso to test
the effectiveness of financial incentives in stimulating the
adoption of sustainable land management practices (SLMPs).
It did so in the context of a so-called cascade training
program, in which some farmers were trained in the
implementation of sustainable land management practices, who
were then asked to disseminate their newly acquired
knowledge and expertise to other farmers in their social
networks. The study finds that offering payments conditional
on adoption improves both the transfer of information from
the trained to the peer farmers, as well as the peer
farmers' sustainable land management practices adoption
rates. Offering financial incentives thus mitigates two of
the most important barriers to the adoption of sustainable
land management practices – the (perceived) lack of private
benefits and insufficient diffusion of the technical
implementation information from the trained farmers to their
peers. Finally, the study documents that adoption of
sustainable land management practices generates substantial
increases in crop productivity and agricultural income
already after one agricultural cycle.
Palabras clave
UNSUSTAINABLE LAND USE, SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT INCENTIVES, CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS, CROP PRODUCTIVITY, SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT BENEFITS, SUSTAINABLE LAND USE TRAINING, AGRICULTURAL TRAINING, ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, PEER-TO-PEER LAND USE TRAINING, LAND USE SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER, SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL TECHNIQUES