How light is too light touch: The effect of a short training-based intervention on household poultry production in Burkina Faso

Jessica Leight; Josué Awonon; Abdoulaye Pedehombga; Rasmané Ganaba; Aulo Gelli

doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102776

How light is too light touch: The effect of a short training-based intervention on household poultry production in Burkina Faso

J Dev Econ. 2022 Mar:155:102776. doi: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102776.

Authors

Jessica Leight¹, Josué Awonon², Abdoulaye Pedehombga³, Rasmané Ganaba³, Aulo Gelli¹

Affiliations

¹ International Food Policy Research Institute, United States of America.
² Tufts University, United States of America.
³ AfricSanté, Burkina Faso.

Abstract

This paper reports on the effects of a training-based intervention seeking to increase household engagement in poultry production in Burkina Faso, analyzing data from a large-scale cluster randomized trial in which 1798 households in 60 communes were observed over a period of three years. The intervention SELEVER - entailing a short series of trainings for households as well as capacity building for local animal health and credit services - had little effect on household poultry production and no effect on profits. There is some evidence of an increase in the utilization of poultry inputs and an associated reduction in poultry mortality, primarily for larger poultry producers; however, there is no evidence of any treatment effects for the smallest producers.

Keywords: Livestock production; Randomized controlled trial; Sub-Saharan Africa; Training.