Xiaoli Yang, Khandker Wahedur Rahman, Qingxiao Li, and Kenn Chua

Yang, X., Rahman, K.W., Li, Q. and Chua, K. (2025) The Grapes of App: Experimental Evidence on Training Farmers Using a Smartphone Application. 13 October. Available at: https://kwrahman.github.io/files/Grapes_of_App.pdf

We conduct a two-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial to study the impact of technical training via a mobile application for grape farmers in China. Our results show that farmers with access to technical videos on mobile devices significantly improved their knowledge and perceived their grapes to be of higher quality. Objective measurements support these claims, showing an increase in grape sweetness by 0.30 standard deviations. However, farmers who received aspirational videos in addition to technical content did not experience an increase in the sweetness of their grapes despite having improved knowledge. Farmers sustained their engagement with the app and retained higher knowledge levels two years after the intervention, during which those who received technical training also saw long-term improvements in yield, revenue, and prices. Our findings highlight the potential of mobile technology in improving agricultural practices at scale and offer insights for designing effective training programs for farmers in developing countries.