Abstract/Summary

We investigate the influence of an agricultural TV edutainment programme on farmers’ decisions to implement changes of agricultural practices. We use data obtained from a survey conducted to 1,572 households in Kenya across the target areas of a TV edutainment programme, Shamba-Shape-Up (SSU). A conceptual framework is developed to account for the interaction between farmers watching SSU internal factors including farmer’s and household’s characteristics, farmer’s views on farming and farmer’s trust on sources of influence and farmer’s decision to change their agricultural practices. Structural equations and probit models are used to understand how watching edutainment TV programme Shamba Shape-Up (SSU) along with farmers and household’s characteristics, famer’s views on farming and farmer’s trust on sources of information affect maize and dairy farmer’s probability to make changes to agricultural practices shown in SSU. We find that SSU has an influence on maize and dairy farmers’ decisions to implement changes of agricultural practices. Farmers who watch SSU have a higher probability to implement a greater number of agricultural practices. However, SSU influence varies depending on the agricultural practice recommended as well as on the reasons that farmers have for watching the programme. The probability of implementing agricultural practices shown on SSU was dependent the associated difficulty of making such changes. Edutainment TV can be a viable channel to nudge farmers to implement practices that contribute to face local and global challenges such as adapting and mitigating climate change, poverty reduction, increasing productivity and income of smallholders in developing countries.