We use experimental data to investigate whether a decentralised approach to promoting innovation in central African agriculture outperforms conventional extension approaches. Our main result is that this decentralised approach, based on so-called innovation platforms, is effective in reducing poverty -more effective than conventional extension approaches. However, we also document considerable heterogeneity in terms of platform performance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.