Agricultural technologies are seen as an important route out of poverty in most of the developing countries. However the rate of adoption of these technologies has remained low in most of these countries. This study aim at shedding some light on the potential factors that influence agricultural technology adoption in developing countries. It does so by reviewing previous studies done on technology adoption. From the study technological, economic, institutional factors and human specific factors are found to be the determinants of agricultural technology adoption. The study recommend the future studies on adoption to widen the range of variables used by including perception of farmers towards new technology. Keywords: Technology, Adoption, smallholder

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Factors Determining Adoption of New Agricultural Technology by Smallholder Farmers in Developing Countries

http://humidtropics.cgiar.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/12/Sustainable-intensification-and-the-African-smallholder.pdf

Sustainable intensification and the African smallholder farmer

Although there's increasing emphasis on farmer-led extension in rural development, very few studies have been done to understand the social processes involved. This study was undertaken to identify farm and farmer charac- teristics that may influence dissemination of seed and knowledge of improved fallows and biomass transfer, to whom, how and what is disseminated. This was done by carrying out a formal and informal survey involving a random sample of 120 farmers from Siaya and Vihiga districts of western Kenya who were involved in a pilot project on soil fertility replenishment by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) and Kenya Agricultural Re- search Institute (KARI). A second survey in- volved 40 farmers, selected using the snowball sampling technique that were given seed and information by the first group of farmers. Descriptive statistics and logit regression models were used to analyze data. Results presented showed that seed and knowledge were mostly shared along kinship ties. Furthermore, informal social networks were found to be more effective for seed than knowledge. This calls for simplifi- cation of technical information by development professionals in order to help support farmers' understanding and communication of complex principles. Farmers with leadership status in their groups, those who belonged to many groups and those with larger farm sizes were more likely to give out seed of improved fallows. These cate- gories of farmers could be targeted to enhance the spread of technologies.

Sharing seed and knowledge: farmer to farmer dissemination of agroforestry technologies in western Kenya

Fodder trees for improving livestock productivity and smallholder livelihoods in Africa

Forests, Trees and Landscapes for Food Security and Nutrition: A Global Assessment Report

The objective of this study is twofold, to demonstrate (1) the effects of fodder shrubs on milk production and their value at the household and regional level and (2) the contribution of research by the World Agroforestry Centre toward strengthening the impact of fodder shrubs. The study is a synthesis of previous studies related to dissemination, adoption and impact combined with two new analyses, one quantitatively measuring the impact of the shrubs through econometric analysis and the other a qualitative analysis to better understand constraints on adoption and gender issues related to participation and control of benefits from fodder shrubs. Among the study findings are that fodder shrubs have been widely adopted in East Africa, by an estimated 205,000 smallholder dairy farmers by 2005. Women were active in planting shrubs, as monitoring found almost half of planters to be women. Several studies have confirmed that shrubs do have an impact on milk production. While feeding trials have found that 1 kilogram of calliandra increases milk production by 0.6–0.8 kilograms, a new survey of farmers’ perceptions in Kenya found the effect to be about half as large after controlling for the effects of breeds, season and other feeds. Whether the effect is the lower or higher estimate, the overall impact of the shrubs in terms of additional net income from milk is high, at US$19.7 million to $29.6 million in Kenya alone over the past 15 years.

The impact of fodder trees on milk production and income among smallholder dairy farmers in East Africa and the role of research

Technology adoption by farmers is crucial to increasing agricultural productivity hence meeting food and nutrition challenges in Africa. Economists investigating consumer demand have accumulated considerable evidence showing that consumers generally have subjective preferences for product attributes. However, when investigating adoption of new agricultural technologies, economists have lagged behind in analysing how farmers' (the consumer of agricultural technologies) subjective perceptions of technology characteristics affect their adoption decisions. Focusing on farmer perceptions of technologies may provide a better understanding of technology adoption since they deal with the technologies and probably perceive technologies differently from researchers and extension agents. The objective of this paper is to investigate farmers' perception of technology and its impact on adoption using a case study of legume forages in central Kenya highlands. Data from a random sample of 131 farm households in four districts in central Kenya was used. Using participatory techniques, four most important fodder legume attributes to farmers in their adoption decision were identified. These were then used in conjoint analysis. An ordered probit model was estimated to assess relative importance of each attribute to the farmer. A tobit model was also estimated to show the effect of farmers' perception of calliandra and desmodium on probability and intensity of adoption. Results showed that dry season tolerance and economy on land are most important characteristics of fodder legumes to the farmers. It was also found that Calliandra and desmodium were more relevant to the farmers in the area than other fodders. Farmers' perception of the two fodders had a significant impact on their adoption. Consequently, it was recommended that before introducing a technology in an area, it is necessary that the farmers' perception of the technology be analysed Conjoint analysis, ordered probit and tobit estimates, fodder legume adoption.

Farmer Perception of Technology and its Impact on Technology Uptake: The Case of Fodder Legume in Central Kenya Highlands.

Adoption studies on fodders legume technologies have shown that spread of the technology is significantly enhanced by informal methods of dissemination especially farmer-to-farmer extension. It is not known which type of farmers are involved in this dissemination. The objective of this study was to identify farm and farmer characteristics that influence farmer-to farmer extension hence identify the type of farmers that can disseminate fodder legume technologies. A random sample of 130 farmers who had been given calliandra in central Kenya responded to a structured questionnaire. Information collected included farm and farmer characteristics and the number of farmers the original farmer had given Calliandra outside the original group. A tobit model was used to analyse the data to get the magnitude of the effects of factors affecting the probability and the intensity of giving out the fodder. Results showed that farmers with positions in farmer groups, with community responsibility, with larger amounts of Desodium spp., on the their farms, with more years of the fodder on their farms, with low access to markets, and with off farm incomec were positively involved in spread of the fodder legume. It was recommended that this type of farmers be targeted with support to increase spread of the technology.

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Adoption of fodder legumes technology through farmer-to-farmer extension approach

Forage legumes have been introduced to farmers in Central Kenya between 1980 and 2002 through various Institutional and Projects’ efforts. The adoption rate of these forages among farmers has been found to be rather low, with the NDDP reporting only 1.9 % of farms surveyed and an ICRAF report indicating that the technology was only reaching 1 % of smallholder farms. An evaluation of adoption of Calliandra and Desmodium was conducted to identify farm characteristics affecting the likelihood of sharing of Desmodium and Calliandra technologies as well as to characterise the spread or diffusion of the technology from the original contact groups and the effect of distance from those groups. Three groups of farmers were approached. A first generation who received planting material from the distributors, a second generation who received planting materials from the former, and a randomly selected group of farmers at various distances from the first contacts. Informal discussions were held with the farmers and formal questionnaires filled. Out of the 133 first generation farmers contacted 64.7% still had Desmodium and 89.5% still had Calliandra. More farms in the contact sub-locations had the plants than the sub-locations further away. The small sample size of those with the forages could not allow effect of distance to Adoption of forage legume technology Sinja, Nyangaga, Karugia, Waithaka, Mwangi and Romney 2 be worked out. Tobit estimates of effects of farmer attributes influencing sharing of planting materials shows that the status of the household head in the community positively affected the likelihood of giving out planting material. The technology has a rather slow spread as indicated by percentages of farms with the forages. For better adoption and spread proponents of the technology should have the technology introduced to farmers who have substantial positions in farmer groups or have been bestowed community responsibility.

J. Sinja

Papers

The impact of fodder trees on milk production and income among smallholder dairy farmers in East Africa and the role of research

Farmer Perception of Technology and its Impact on Technology Uptake: The Case of Fodder Legume in Central Kenya Highlands.

Adoption of fodder legumes technology through farmer-to-farmer extension approach

Factors influencing farmer-to-farmer extension of forage legume technology