●●○ medium
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (A). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
Digital Green: ‘See and learn' agricultural extension featuring local farmers on screen. Conventional agricultural extension is top-down, mostly face-to-face, and short on staff, so it rarely reaches smallholders — especially women. Digital Green (born from Microsoft Research India, started by Rikin Gandhi, now an NGO) makes short how-to videos in which not outside experts but “local farmers themselves” demonstrate practices, screens them at gatherings of women's self-help groups (NRLM / Jeevika), and reinforces them with IVR, SMS, WhatsApp, and the FarmStack data platform. Because a neighbor appears on screen, the advice is trusted and spreads cheaply. It has reached over 7.2 million smallholders, mainly in India. The letter is A; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q2; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
Conventional agricultural extension is top-down, mostly face-to-face, and short on staff, so it rarely reaches smallholders — especially women.
Digital Green (born from Microsoft Research India, started by Rikin Gandhi, now an NGO) makes short how-to videos in which not outside experts but “local farmers themselves” demonstrate practices, screens them at gatherings of women's self-help groups (NRLM / Jeevika), and reinforces them with IVR, SMS, WhatsApp, and the FarmStack data platform. Because a neighbor appears on screen, the advice is trusted and spreads cheaply. It has reached over 7.2 million smallholders, mainly in India.
One person’s story (N1)
+ before → after
At a gathering of a women's self-help group in Bihar, one video plays. On screen is not a foreign expert but a woman farmer from the same village demonstrating intensive rice cultivation (SRI). “If she can do it, so can I” — members who feel that try the steps and raise their yield and take-home pay. With a neighbor as teacher, new techniques take root in the village.
Source nature: J-PAL（Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab） / P1 academic (RCT). Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- Multiple independent RCTs verify the effect — J-PAL (Bihar, with Jeevika) confirmed increased yield and estimated profit and cost-effectiveness; a Microsoft Research RCT (2009) calculated $3.70 per practice adoption (versus $38.18 for conventional methods); and an IFPRI RCT in Ethiopia estimated +24% reach, up to +44% adoption, and $4 per adoption, also observing spillover to non-viewers.P1 academic (RCT) / IFPRI / Microsoft Research / J-PAL
− effects (confirmed)
- No confirmed −.
- Context differences in yield/income effects; substance of reach figures; independent verification of new channels (mobile/FarmStack)
A second look
Effects are context-dependent: improvements in knowledge, adoption, and cost-effectiveness are consistently confirmed in multiple RCTs, while yield/income lifts are not observed in some studies depending on the situation (e.g., no yield effect for cashew in Andhra Pradesh). Reach figures (over 7.2 million) are mainly company/partner tallies.
Sources
How to read this assessment
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the story an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q2 | Back to top