Abstract
This study investigates the different impact of informational interventions on smallholder farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags in Sierra Leone. Despite the proven efficacy of PICS bags in reducing post-harvest losses and maintaining crop quality, their adoption rates remain suboptimal. Through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving 436 households, this research investigates how health and profit-oriented information impacts farmers' valuation of PICS bags. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either health benefits information, profit benefits information, or standard usage instructions (control group). The WTP was assessed using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction method. Results indicate that while profit-related information significantly increases WTP, health information does not. Further, heterogeneity analysis shows that risk-averse farmers exhibit a higher WTP in response to both types of information, suggesting a greater valuation of PICS bags' benefits. Conversely, households with higher dietary diversity scores display a diminished response to profit-oriented information regarding their WTP.
