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Using a multi-year, spatially diversified randomised controlled trial spanning two African countries, this paper explores whether a complementary bundle of genetic and financial technologies can boost the resilience and productivity of small-scale farmers. The analysis shows that both moderate droughts and more severe yield losses undermine the resilience of control-group households, and that these shocks have long-lasting effects as farmers invest and produce less following shocks. Severe yield shocks also increase hunger and food insecurity. The genetic technology—drought-tolerant seeds—provides economically significant protection against mid-season drought and mitigates the long-term drop in farm productivity seen in the control group. The financial technology—satellite-based index insurance—offsets the long-term consequences of severe yield losses that are not mitigated by the drought-tolerant seeds. Finally, the analysis shows that treatment-group farmers who experienced shocks and saw the technologies in action subsequently increased their agricultural investment beyond pre-shock levels, an effect we call the resilience dividend. Unfortunately, this apparent experiential learning cuts both ways. Farmers who did not experience the efficacy of the risk management technologies backed away from using them. Our findings thus showcase how genetic and financial risk-mitigating technologies can offer farmers more complete protection, as well as the challenge of inducing sustained uptake of technologies that are midway between experience and credence goods and only infrequently reveal their benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural microfinance must contend with the triple challenges of isolation, small‐scale transactions, and risk. These challenges result in information asymmetries and transaction costs that render markets for financial services costly or missing. This paper examines how emerging digital technologies (e.g., mobile money, digital credit scoring, and earth observation) can reshape rural markets for savings, credit, and insurance services, especially in developing countries. Although our synthesis of the literature suggests reason for hope in all three domains, the imperfections of these digital technologies require evaluation and oversight if the resulting rural financial system is to be more efficient and equitable than its predecessor. JEL CLASSIFICATION: D14; F63; R51 Related Content: Digital Transformation of the Agricultural Sector: Pathways, Drivers and Policy Implications Related Content: Who drives the digital revolution in agriculture? A review of supply-side trends, players and challenges Related Content: E-commerce's fast-tracking diffusion and adaptation in developing countries [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]