In this study, we test the hypothesis that small-scale testing can reduce the risk and uncertainty of trying new technologies. We conducted a field experiment, in a cluster randomised control trial setting, to examine whether the availability of divisible packages of seeds influences smallholder farmers’ decisions to try a new wheat variety. Our results show that the adoption of the newly introduced wheat variety was higher in the villages where small seed packages were introduced. We find that smallholder farmers tend to experiment on the newly introduced variety on their farmland and are less likely to adopt the new variety as a coping mechanism for risk exposure at the stage of experimentation. The results from treatment heterogeneity reveal that supplying seed in small bags had differential causal effects on individual farmers. The intervention which made small seed bags available impacted relatively younger and poorer farmers the most. This finding provides an insight into the significance of seed delivery in small bags to improve the use of seeds of new varieties by smallholders.

中文翻译：

---

改进农业投入品交付系统以提高技术采用率：埃塞俄比亚实地试验的证据

在这项研究中，我们检验了小规模测试可以降低尝试​​新技术的风险和不确定性的假设。我们在集群随机对照试验环境中进行了一项田间试验，以检查可分割种子包装的可用性是否会影响小农尝试新小麦品种的决定。我们的研究结果表明，新引进的小麦品种在引进小种子包装的村庄的采用率更高。我们发现小农倾向于在他们的农田上试验新引进的品种，并且不太可能在试验阶段采用新品种作为风险暴露的应对机制。处理异质性的结果表明，用小袋子供应种子对个体农民有不同的因果影响。提供小种子袋的干预措施对相对年轻和贫困的农民影响最大。这一发现提供了对小袋装种子的重要性的洞察，以改善小农对新品种种子的使用。