Feder, Gershon (author), Just, Richard E. (author), and Zilberman, David (author)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1982
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 51 Document Number: C00566
Notes:
AgComm Teaching, Washington, D.C. : The World Bank, 1982. 65 p. (World Bank Staff Working papers No. 542), Reviews various studies which have provided a description of and possible explanation to patterns of innovation adoption in the agricultural sector. Covers both empirical and theoretical studies. Highlights the diversity in observed patterns among various farmers' classes as well as difference in results from different studies in different socio-economic environments, and reviews the attempts to rationalize such findings. Special attention is given to the methodologies which are commonly used in studies of innovation adoption and suggestions for improvements of such work through the use of appropriate econometric methods are provided.
Phase 2, INTERPAKS, The evolution of socio-economic thought concerning the diffusion of innovations started with a debate about the relative importance of social and economic factors in the adoption of hybrid corn and hybrid sorghum in the United States during the 1928-1941 period. Sociologists and economists agreed that an array of factors, not too well understood, and varying from one farm and farm area to another, stimulate adoption. The literature on the Green Revolution of the 1960's added new dimensions to the debate by considering not only adoption and production, but a host of other conditions such as markets and income distribution. The very nature of the adoption process tends to favor early adopters with favorable social and economic characteristics. Those less fortunate fall behind because they are unable to assume the added production costs and the risks associated with the potentially higher returns from the new technology. These new findings point to the necessity of formulating technological packages based on integrated socio-economic research where the entire decision environment of the farmer is considered.
