18 | SMALLHOLDER DIARIES SMALLHOLDER DIARIES SITE AND HOUSEHOLD SELECTION †‡ˆ chose to implement the Smallholder ‰iaries in –o—ambiue, Œan—ania, and aistan because of the variation in their agricultural sectors and the potential to wor with smallholder households with different mixes of crops and livestoc, degrees of engagement in agriculture, and maret relationships, all within the varied mobile financial services ecosystems across the three countries­ ™hen selecting the specific research sites in each of the three Small- holder ‰iaries countries, the goal was to locate at least two villages no more than “’ ilometers apart­ Œhe villages needed to be accessible by a passable road so researchers could reach them throughout the year, and they also needed to present distinctions in at least a few important aspects, such as prev- alent varieties of crops and livestoc, access to irrigation, and average house- hold income levels­ • €n –o—ambiue, three villages in ªapale district of northern ˜ampula rov- ince were selected based on strong recommendations from local staehold- ers­ ™hile some large companies buy cash crops in the province, smallholders tend to practice the subsistence, rain-fed agriculture that is more commonly found throughout –o—ambiue­ • €n Œan—ania, the Smallholder ‰iaries sites included two villages located in the region of –beya, home to one of the largest farming populations in Œan- —ania­ –beya sits within the Southern ˆgricultural ‡rowth †orridor of Œan- —ania (Sˆ‡†¦Œ), a region nown for a productive agroecological climate and an array of crops and livestoc­ armers in the region most commonly produce mai—e, as well as coffee and tea, rice, potatoes, pyrethrum, and cas- sava­ Œo explore the diversity within this region, Smallholder ‰iaries sites were selected in two different districts­ Œhe two selected villages exhibit important differences in available economic activities, climate, harvest sea- sons, crops, and use of agricultural inputs­ • €n aistan, the Smallholder ‰iaries were conducted in southern un„ab, within the country’s breadbaset­ ªice, wheat, and cotton are commonly grown and typically sold through a networ of local commission agents (nown as arthis) and village traders­ ‡iven the dominance of agricultural middlemen in aistan, two villages in the district of £ahawalnagar were selected as representative of an area with relatively looser connections to agricultural value chains and middlemen­ ¦nce the villages for the Smallholder ‰iaries were selected, the research teams used a screening process to help identify a range of families with diverse income sources, access to agricultural inputs, wealth levels, crops, and livestoc to par- …ž ticipate in the research­ • €n Œan—ania and –o—ambiue, households were selected using a participa- tory rural appraisal wealth-raning techniue­ ™oring with committees of village representatives, the research teams conducted wealth-raning exer- cises to assess the relative wealth of households in village hamlets or subar- eas­ ©sing the wealth raning, eligible households were selected based on their landholdings, number of crops and harvests per year, use of inputs, and integration with local marets­