Burundi Field Operations Interview Exercise

Given Data :

a. CONTROL METHOD

1. Sample Famers = 50

2. Area used for Control = 0.25 acre

3. KK8 Bean variety = 32kgs/acre

4. DAP Fertelizer = 50kgs/acre

5. Cost of seeds = 200ksh/kg

6. selling price after harvest = 85ksh/kg

b. TREATMENT METHOD

1. Sample Famers = 50

2. Area used for Treatment = 0.25 acre

3. KK8 Bean variety = 32kgs/acre

4. DAP Fertelizer = 50kgs/acre

5. Ortiva Fongicides = 150ml/acre

6. Cost of seeds = 200ksh/kg

7. selling price after harvest = 85ksh/kg

Total quantities of materials used by each farmer during the trial

Control Method

Seeds : 32kgs x 0.25acre = 8kgs

DAP Fertelizer : 50kgs x 0.25acre = 12.5kgs

Treatment method

Seeds : 32kgs x 0.25acre = 8kgs

DAP Fertelizer : 50kgs x 0.25acre = 12.5kgs

Ortiva Fongicides : 150ml x 0.25acre = 37.5ml

Total cost used from planting to harvest by each farmer

Control Method

Seeds : 8kgs x 200kES = 1,600KES

DAP Fertelizer : 12.5kgs x65KES = 812.50KES

TOTAL = 2,412.50KES
Burundi Field Operations Interview Exercise
Treatment method

Seeds : 8kgs x 200KES = 1,600KES

DAP Fertelizer : 12.5kgs x 65KE = 812.50KES

Ortiva Fongicides : 37.5ml x 15KES = 562.50KES

TOTAL = 2,975KES

Total cost for all 50 farmers

Control method = 2,412.50KES x 50 farmers = 120,625KES

Treatment Method = 2,975KES x 50 farmers = 148,750KES

Total yields for all 50 farmers

Control method = 3204.1kgs

Treatment method = 3469.1kgs

Total earnings after sells for all 50 farmers

Control method = 3,204.1kgs x 85KES = 272,348.5KES

Treatment method : 3,469.1kgs x 85KES = 294,873.5KES

Total profit for all 50 farmers

Control method : 272,348.5KES - 120,625Ksh = 151,723.5KES

Treatment method : 294,873.5KES - 148,750KES = 146,123.5KES

Average profit for each farmer would be ;

Control method : 151,723KES/50 farmers = 3,034.46KES

Treatment method : 146,123.5KES/50 farmers = 2,922.47KES

Burundi Field Operations Interview Exercise

One Acre Fund is continually researching and testing new agricultural technologies to help farmers get
higher yields. A trial have been conducted to determine the effect of using a fungicide to prevent bean
disease and thereby increase yields.

The basic trial design was as follows:

• Sample size is 50 farmers, each of which plants a ¼ acre plot using the control method and a ¼
acre plot using the treatment method, side by side.

• Control method: KK8 bean variety (applied at 32kgs/acre), DAP planting fertilizer (applied at
50kgs/acre)

• Treatment method: KK8 bean variety (applied at 32kgs/acre), DAP planting fertilizer (applied at
50kgs/acre), fungicide (applied at 150ml/acre)

The attached Excel sheet contains the raw data from this trial. Note that the bean yields in this database
are given in kgs harvested per ¼ acre planted. KK8 bean seed costs 200 Kenyan Shillings (KES) per kg,
DAP planting fertilizer costs 65 KES per kg, and Ortiva fungicide costs 15 KES per ml. Farmers choose to
sell all of their bean harvests at the market for a price of 85 KES per kg. All labor and other costs are
equal across the treatment and control plots.

After the said trial it was found out that each farmer spent total of 2,412.50KES for ¼ acre of Control
method and 2,975KES for ¼ acre of Treatment method. There were an increase of 562.50KES for
Treatment method from that of Control method, the increase being the cost of Ortiva Fungicide.

The average profit for each farmer was 3,034.46KES for ¼ acre of Control method and 2,922.47KES for ¼
acre of Treatment method. There were difference of around 112KES.

The attached Excel sheet contains the raw data from this trial. The bean yields in this database are given
in kgs harvested per ¼ acre planted. It was clear that 64% of farmers had higher yields under Treatment
method and 36% had lower yields and this affected there income after the sell.

This technology should not be scaled as of now. More trials (lets say 2 or more trials) should be carried
out even in defferent locations before it is scaled out. If after those more trials the results will still come
out like the first trial, the nit shouldn’t be scaled out at all. But if after the addition trials, the results will
show that farmers are yielding more and there profit margin is hiher on average than that of Control
method, then that is when i twill be scalled out. But more efforts should be directed to training both
field officers and farmers on the new treatment method. Farmers needs to know about the Ortiva
fungicide, how it works and also the side effects if it is not applied according to instructions.