An evaluation of farmers' digital literacy and awareness on the adoption and implementation of bundled digital innovations in Uganda

Ogutu, Sylvester; Kikulwe, Enoch; Ajambo, Susan; Birachi, Eliud; and Ategeka, Stewart. 2024. An evaluation of farmers' digital literacy and awareness on the adoption and implementation of bundled digital innovations in Uganda. CGIAR Initiative on Rethinking Food Markets Technical Report December 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/169805

Global agri-food systems face numerous challenges, including the adverse effects of climate change, low productivity, limited adoption of technologies, and restricted access to input and output markets. These constraints contribute to increased food insecurity, decreased income from agriculture, and stagnated growth rates in many agrarian economies. Digitizing the agriculture sector presents a sustainable solution to these challenges by providing critical information that supports optimal decision-making, enhancing efficiency and productivity. However, the widespread adoption of digital innovations in this sector is hindered by low awareness of existing technologies, limited digital literacy, and prevailing social norms and power dynamics affecting various population segments, particularly women and youth.

To overcome these barriers, campaigns aimed at improving digital literacy and raising awareness is essential for promoting the uptake and use of digital innovations. Despite the importance of these initiatives, studies that quantify the impact of such interventions on the adoption and use of bundled digital innovations remain limited. This evaluation report, first, examines the effects of awareness creation and digital literacy trainings on the adoption of bundled digital innovations, differentiated by gender. Second, it evaluates the impact of digital literacy training on input use (improved seeds, fertilizer, agrochemicals (fungicides and herbicides) and mechanization), crop yields (for at least two major annual crops in the study area: maize and beans and two cash crops (banana and coffee), and income, all categorized by gender and other socio-economic characteristics.

Data for this study were obtained from a randomized controlled trial (RCT), collected over two waves: a baseline conducted in September 2023 and a follow-up in September 2024. The treatment group comprised 253 households from three districts in Uganda, who received digital literacy training along with basic agronomic training as part of the intervention. In contrast, the control group consisted of 284 households from two districts. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models were employed since the covariates were balanced between the treatment and control groups at both the baseline and follow-up stages. ANCOVA was also utilized for validation purposes, incorporating pre-treatment variables to enhance model estimates. The results indicate an attrition rate of 4.5%, with no significant differences observed across the various explanatory variables. This suggests that attrition is nonsystematic. The balance test scores show no evidence of differences in covariates between the treatment and control groups, which supports the use of OLS regression for empirical estimation. The intervention led to a significant increase in the uptake of improved seeds, as well as a positive trend of gross revenues from agricultural production and increased consumption expenditures on both food and non-food items. This study suggests that creating awareness and providing digital literacy training can enhance the adoption of productivity-enhancing inputs, such as improved seeds. Additionally, it is essential to adopt an inclusive, gender-sensitive approach to ensure that awareness and training campaigns have a wider impact.