TY - JOUR
T1 - Performance incentives and information communication technologies in Ugandan agricultural extension service delivery
AU - Amadu, Festus O.
AU - McNamara, Paul E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the US Agency for International Development through the Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (Grant number: AID Sub UC Davis 016258-128; Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services project (Grant number AID-OAA-L-10-00003), and Feed the Future Strengthening Agriculture and Nutrition Extension project (Grant number AID-612-LA-15-00003, 2015) at University of Illinois. We thank the Journal Editor and two anonymous reviewers for important feedback on an earlier draft. Their excellent comments significantly improved this article. We are also grateful to Alex Winter-Nelson and Kathy Baylis, Departments of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois, for meaningful feedback on earlier drafts of this article. Authors appreciate Grameen Foundation in Uganda for contextual information. We acknowledge Michael Culbertson for important help with data management. We take responsibility for any errors that may be found in this article
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the US Agency for International Development through the Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Proramg(Grant number: AID Sub UC Davis 016258-128; Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services project (Grant number AID-OAA-L-10-00003), and Feed the Future Strengthening Agriculture and
Publisher Copyright:
© Afr. J. Food Agric. Nutr. Dev. 2019.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Agriculture is the backbone of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, lack of efficient extension systems to support agricultural development is widely seen as a missing link in agricultural transformation in the region. International development agencies have in the past four decades invested heavily in various extension models such as the Training and Visit and Farmer Field School systems in order to enhance the performance of extension workers. Despite such investments, the performance of extension agents does remain suboptimal in many contexts. Studies in other sectors show that incentivizing worker performance through nudges such as incentive realignment schemes that tie worker performance to a pay/bonus system could enhance worker productivity. However, there is a lack of incentive realignment studies that estimate the performance of extension agents in sub-Saharan Africa. A potential hindrance to the application of such scheme to extension is the absence of monitoring mechanisms to track the performance of extension agents who often work across diverse local contexts to reach smallholder farmers with extension advice. This study empirically estimates the effect of an information communication technology (ICT)-based payment incentive system that tracks the performance of extension workers in rural Uganda. It undertakes a quasi-experimental ex-post impact assessment of a payment incentive realignment as an exogenous shift in the price of labor for extension services by Ugandan Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) in 2011. This study applies a difference-in-difference with propensity score matching technique to estimate the effect of an ICT-based incentive re-alignment scheme in 2011, on the performance of 461 CKWs in rural Uganda. The study shows that CKWs in rural Uganda respond positively to an ICT-based performance incentive scheme that affects the price of labor. Results suggest that such performance systems can enhance the productivity of CKWs - an exemplar of rural extension agents in Uganda and elsewhere in developing countries. It also finds that younger CKWs respond more productively to higher incentives than their older counterparts. Therefore, the study suggests that extension policies that tie extension agents' performance to ICT-based payment incentives could enhance their performance and contribute towards the sustainable developments goals on food security, among others, through multiplier effects.
AB - Agriculture is the backbone of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, lack of efficient extension systems to support agricultural development is widely seen as a missing link in agricultural transformation in the region. International development agencies have in the past four decades invested heavily in various extension models such as the Training and Visit and Farmer Field School systems in order to enhance the performance of extension workers. Despite such investments, the performance of extension agents does remain suboptimal in many contexts. Studies in other sectors show that incentivizing worker performance through nudges such as incentive realignment schemes that tie worker performance to a pay/bonus system could enhance worker productivity. However, there is a lack of incentive realignment studies that estimate the performance of extension agents in sub-Saharan Africa. A potential hindrance to the application of such scheme to extension is the absence of monitoring mechanisms to track the performance of extension agents who often work across diverse local contexts to reach smallholder farmers with extension advice. This study empirically estimates the effect of an information communication technology (ICT)-based payment incentive system that tracks the performance of extension workers in rural Uganda. It undertakes a quasi-experimental ex-post impact assessment of a payment incentive realignment as an exogenous shift in the price of labor for extension services by Ugandan Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) in 2011. This study applies a difference-in-difference with propensity score matching technique to estimate the effect of an ICT-based incentive re-alignment scheme in 2011, on the performance of 461 CKWs in rural Uganda. The study shows that CKWs in rural Uganda respond positively to an ICT-based performance incentive scheme that affects the price of labor. Results suggest that such performance systems can enhance the productivity of CKWs - an exemplar of rural extension agents in Uganda and elsewhere in developing countries. It also finds that younger CKWs respond more productively to higher incentives than their older counterparts. Therefore, the study suggests that extension policies that tie extension agents' performance to ICT-based payment incentives could enhance their performance and contribute towards the sustainable developments goals on food security, among others, through multiplier effects.
KW - Agricultural extension
KW - Community knowledge workers
KW - ICT-based performance incentives
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U2 - 10.18697/AJFAND.84.BLFB1007
DO - 10.18697/AJFAND.84.BLFB1007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065027433
SN - 1684-5358
VL - 19
SP - 14113
EP - 14136
JO - African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
JF - African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
IS - 1
ER -