Does beneficiary farmer feedback improve project performance? An impact study of a participatory monitoring intervention in Mindanao, Philippines

Abstract: Does farmer involvement in the monitoring of agricultural interventions improve the impact of those interventions? This article investigates the impact of a beneficiary feedback mechanism (ParFARM) on the performance of a farmers’ field school project in the Philippines. A participatory feed-back module was randomly allocated to farmer field schools and its impact was observed on a series of outcomes. We find that ParFARM increases farmers’ motivation and improves project performance as measured by farmers’ agricultural knowledge and practices. The intervention, however, does not, within the context of a one-year treatment, increase agricultural yields. Unlike much of the impact literature focusing on the comparison of groups with and without the intervention, we analyse impact over the entire intensity of treatment and we find that the impact of ParFARM increases with the number of farmer field school sessions attended. Our results suggest that farmer field school interventions can be made more participatory and that this can increase their effectiveness.