My income is my tractor! lessons from a mixed methods approach on farming practices in village India

This case study is a reflection on the research process that began with a project evaluation funded by a Netherlands-based nongovernmental organization that I was fortunate to be involved in. The organization funded the Chetna Organic Farmers Association (COFA) project that aimed to alleviate the poverty of cotton farmers in rural India. The project aimed to improve the livelihood options of small, farm-holding households by making their farming systems more sustainable and profitable. To achieve the aim of this project, COFA focused on institution building. That is, the association delivered training to farmers, helped them get organized into self-help groups, helped with writing and disseminating training manuals, and, most important, helped with maintaining functional certification for organic cotton. To evaluate the efficacy of this project, we employed a difference-in-difference method after conducting two household surveys that were 2 years apart. In addition to an analysis of these quantitative data, we collected qualitative data through interviews with project staff and farmers and made field visits. In this case, I describe the challenges and key learnings from the evaluation of this project.