Purdue University researchers introduced a new framework on May 28 that quantifies the return on investment for digital agricultural learning initiatives. Barry Pittendrigh, John V. Osmun Endowed Chair in Urban Entomology, and Julia Bello-Bravo, assistant professor of agricultural sciences education and communication, coauthored the study published in PLOS One with international collaborators.
The research focuses on Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO), which produces free multilingual instructional animations for low-literacy and non-English-speaking communities. The videos are available online and through a dedicated app, reaching speakers of languages ranging from Arabic and Swahili to those spoken by fewer than 10,000 people globally. “We wanted to measure the economic impact of delivering content in local languages,” said Bello-Bravo. “What is the value of giving someone who doesn’t speak a mainstream language like English or Spanish access to educational materials they can understand and use?”
The concept for this paper originated from an earlier collaboration between Purdue University and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations during a field experiment in Uganda. Coauthor Rebecca Pietrelli, economist at FAO’s Agrifood Economics and Policy Division, said, “It became clear we didn’t want to stop at a single case study, but instead try to step back and ask, ‘How do these kinds of digital learning experiences make sense economically, and under what conditions can they really scale?’”
Researchers developed a systems-modeling framework that follows four stages: production, deployment, adoption, and returns. This model outputs an internal rate of return—a standard investment performance metric—that funders can use when evaluating economic viability. The findings indicate that campaign spending levels, adoption rates among farmers, and income gains most strongly influence returns.
For example, producing a new animation peer-reviewed in 20 languages at $30,000 breaks even if it reaches 7,593 farmers over three years or just 113 if used for thirty years. Translating existing content into another language costs about $500 with break-even points at 130 farmers over three years or seven over thirty years. Pittendrigh said, “Because this content lives on well beyond a three-year funding mechanism, you don’t need to impact that many people in order to have a positive return on investment in the long term.”
Máximo Torero—the FAO’s chief economist—said, “In a context where resources are increasingly constrained and demands on development funding continue to grow, this kind of analysis helps highlight which approaches offer strong value, which ones are worth expanding and where changes may be needed.” Pittendrigh compared advancements in agricultural education delivery with historical technological shifts such as automobiles or telephones becoming widely accessible tools.
Purdue University Department of Agriculture functions as a core academic unit within Purdue University; its graduate program ranks first nationally according to U.S. News & World Report; it funds innovative projects through AgSEED grants; utilizes facilities like the Agricultural Administration Building; enhances social well-being through extension efforts; Virginia Ferris was its first female full professor serving as an entomologist—all according to the official website.
