Impacts of Age, Gender, and Education on Reported Adoption of Jerrycan Post-Harvest Prevention Technique After Mass-Scaling of Educational Animations in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria

Research increasingly demonstrates that animated e-extension videos can enhance smallholder farmers’ knowledge and practices, but little is understood about their effects when such videos are mass-scaled across diverse populations. Building on a prior randomized controlled trial (RCT) that showed a post-harvest loss prevention animation improved learning and adoption regardless of age, gender, or education, this study investigates whether scaling introduces demographic biases in self-reported comprehension. To explore this, an already validated animation was translated into 73 local languages and distributed through multiple media channels in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. After deployment, data were collected from 5,977 randomly sampled households across the three countries. Analyses assessed associations between respondents’ education, age, and gender, and their reported understanding of the video. Findings reveal that education significantly influenced comprehension, with higher educational attainment linked to greater self-reported understanding. Age produced mixed effects: farmers aged 49+ were most likely to report comprehension, followed by those aged 18 to 29, while the 30 to 39 group reported the lowest. Gender, however, showed no significant effect. These results both align with and depart from earlier research on smaller-scale e-extension, suggesting that dissemination pathways and reach may shape differential impacts across demographic groups. Collectively, the study highlights the promise and complexity of mass-scaled e-extension. Future research should further examine the mechanisms influencing reach, engagement, and adoption of highly cost-effective and scalable digital extension tools, which can serve as critical complements to traditional extension services in resource-constrained farming systems.