Effectiveness of mobile agri-advisory service extension model: Evidence from Direct2Farm program in India

This study examines the effectiveness of mobile as a novel approach for providing targeted and equitable agri-advisory services to farmers at scale. A cross-sectional survey of farmers registered on CABI's Direct2Farm (D2F) user database was undertaken using a combination of telephone interviews, household survey and focus group discussions covering six states in India. Was used mixed method approach that utilized both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The study population comprised farmers from the CABI-D2F Registered User Database of 400,000, from which a representative sample was obtained. Data for the study were collected in two waves; November 2015 – February 2016, and August – September 2016. We used telephone interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and face-to-face interviews for data collection