experiment known as CVIP: Methodological Experiment on Measuring Cassava Production, Productivity, and Variety Identification. The CVIP fieldwork started in July 2015 and ended in August 2016. The data were collected on Android tablets, using a computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) platform that was designed with the World Bank _Survey Solutions_ CAPI software.

The CVIP target universe included households cultivating cassava in five major cassava producing districts in northern, central, and southern Malawi, namely Nkhatabay, Nkhotakota, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mulanje.P9F<sup>10</sup> The selection of these five districts ensured representation from each agroecological zone and Agricultural Development Division (ADD), with the exception of Karonga ADD.P10F<sup>11</sup> Based on the last National Census of Agriculture and Livestock (NACAL) 2006/07, Nkhatabay and Nkhotakota were in fact the two districts with the highest percent of households involved in cassava cultivation, production and area under cultivation.

Following the district selection, the district agricultural development officers, the assistant agricultural development officers and the crop specialists in each of the five districts were consulted. The consultations aimed to obtain the APES-based cassava production estimates for the MoAIWD Extension Planning Areas (EPAs) within each district, such that cassava-producing EPAs were identified. Following the identification of these EPAs, the NSO cartography department identified the census enumeration areas (EAs) in each EPA.

Out of the universe of EAs in cassava-producing EPAs, 9 EAs were sampled in each district, with probability proportional to the EA-level count of households as captured in the 2008 Population and Housing Census (PHC). In each sampled EA, a household listing exercise was conducted in June 2015 to identify the universe of households cultivating cassava at that time. Out of that list, 28 households were sampled at random in each EA, and 7 sampled households were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 survey treatment that differed in the approach to data collection on production, as explained in section 3.1. Although the target was to have 1,260 households overall and 315 households per treatment arm, the final sample contained 1,218 households.F<sup>12</sup>

> 10 To select the districts, the key CVIP team members from the World Bank LSMS and the NSO embarked on five missions throughout 2014 to consult with the experts on agriculture and cassava production from the MoAIWD Department of Crops and Department of Agricultural Research Services, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Food Security, the Chancellor College Cassava Value Addition Project, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The topics discussed included, but were not limited to, production estimates for cassava at the national- and district-levels; planting and harvesting times for cassava varieties; and the approaches to cassava production and yield estimation as well as the challenges associated with each.

> 11 Although the Karonga ADD is also known for cassava production, due to the location of the NSO headquarters in Zomba, the experiment did not cover the northernmost districts so that regular supervision trips by NSO management team members were feasible from a cost and time management perspective.

> 12 The universe of households in one EA in each of Lilongwe and Mulanje contained fewer than 28. Further, due to a poor agricultural season and the need for 19 sampled households in Lilongwe and Mulanje to start harvesting cassava earlier than our first visit, CVIP started out with 1,241 households. An additional 21 households were lost due to

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