Youth and digital agriculture: Do they pass the message to the family? Experimental evidence from Uganda

Digital agriculture offers promising solutions to meet growing food demands. Investigating whether targeting youth in digital agriculture affects the adoption of good practices is a topic that has been overlooked but holds critical implications for policymakers. This study explores whether providing agricultural information via digital technologies to adolescents can influence household adoption of improved agricultural practices. Leveraging a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) conducted in collaboration with a secondary school in rural Uganda, we examined the transmission of knowledge from students to household members and assessed adoption rates and food loss reductions. To the best of our knowledge, our research is the first to focus on the effectiveness of digital technologies aimed at youth in promoting agricultural practices in Africa, particularly affordable basic farming techniques essential for vulnerable and poorer farmers. Our most conservative estimates indicate that households exposed to agricultural videos through computer classes showed substantial gains in knowledge (with a 16% increase). We find a modest effect on adoption rates, with households whose students were exposed to agricultural videos in the classroom showing twice as much adoption rates than those who were not. We speculate that the joint decision-making process could be a constraint on adoption. Interestingly, the intervention had a greater effect on poorer households and those with more traditional values, indicating that strong family ties may be a pathway for the impact. The insights contribute to bridging the gap between behavioral economics and agricultural adoption, offering practical implications for sustainable agricultural development strategies.