Exploring the effectiveness of serious games in strengthening smallholders’ motivation to plant different trees on farms: evidence from rural Rwanda

Addressing the global challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss requires the widespread adoption of sustainable agricultural practices such as agroforestry. In many Sub-Saharan African countries, however, agroforestry adoption rates remain low among small-scale farmers, with insufficient knowledge about the benefits being a major barrier. To close this knowledge gap and increase farmers’ motivation to plant different tree species on their farms, this study applies a Role-playing game (RPG) as an awareness-raising tool. 72 small-scale farmers from Rwanda played the RPG and participated in pre- and post-game surveys. A comparison of responses before and after playing demonstrates that the RPG increased farmers’ knowledge and attitude toward most tree-related benefits. Moreover, playing the game significantly strengthened farmers’ motivation to plant more tree species on their farms. The findings were supported by debriefing results, confirming that RPGs are an effective tool to raise farmers’ awareness and motivation on sustainable land use management.