The quality of agricultural products can affect both farm incomes and the healthfulness of farm families’ diets. However, many quality attributes are hard to observe, making it difficult for farmers to learn how to improve the quality of their crops. Lack of premium pass-through and the cost of quality-enhancing inputs are additional barriers to improving output quality. In this paper, we examine the relative importance of each of these barriers to smallholder adoption of technologies for reducing aflatoxin, a common food safety hazard. We conduct a randomized controlled trial in northern Ghana over the course of two seasons to test how three interventions affect adoption of practices that reduce aflatoxin risk as well as aflatoxin levels in groundnuts: (1) training on aflatoxin and its prevention, (2) distribution of free drying sheets, and (3) a price premium for groundnuts that comply with aflatoxin regulations. We find that training farmers substantially improves post-harvest practices. Drying sheet distribution and, to a lesser extent, the premium price offer lead to further improvements, including crowding-in of non-subsidized practices. We find substantial corresponding decreases in aflatoxin levels from drying sheet provision in the study region with high non-negligible background aflatoxin levels. Impacts are stronger for households with higher aflatoxin at baseline, more members, and young children.

农产品的质量会影响农场的收入和农场家庭饮食的健康。但是，许多质量属性很难观察到，这使农民很难学习如何提高农作物的质量。缺乏优质的通过和提高质量的投入的成本是提高产出质量的其他障碍。在本文中，我们研究了这些障碍对小农采用减少黄曲霉毒素（一种常见的食品安全危害）的技术的相对重要性。我们在加纳北部进行了为期两个季度的随机对照试验，以测试三种干预措施如何影响降低花生中黄曲霉毒素风险以及黄曲霉毒素水平的做法的采用：（1）培训黄曲霉毒素及其预防方法，（2）分发免费的干燥床单，（3）符合黄曲霉毒素法规的花生的价格溢价。我们发现，培训农民可以大大改善收获后的做法。干燥纸的分销以及（在较小程度上）优惠价格带来了进一步的改善，包括拥挤了无补贴的做法。我们发现，在研究区域中具有较高的背景黄曲霉毒素水平的情况下，干燥纸提供的黄曲霉毒素水平有相应的降低。对于基线时黄曲霉毒素含量较高的家庭，更多的成员和年幼的孩子，影响更大。包括挤入无补贴的做法。我们发现，在研究区域中具有较高的背景黄曲霉毒素水平的情况下，干燥纸提供的黄曲霉毒素水平有相应的降低。对于基线时黄曲霉毒素含量较高的家庭，更多的成员和年幼的孩子，影响更大。包括挤入无补贴的做法。我们发现在研究区域中具有较高的背景黄曲霉毒素水平的情况下，干纸提供的黄曲霉毒素水平有相应的降低。对于基线时黄曲霉毒素含量较高的家庭，更多的成员和年幼的孩子，影响更大。