Hoddinott, John (author) and Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
2002
Published:
United Kingdom
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C28220
Notes:
Posted online at http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/conferences/2002-UPaGiSSA/papers/Hoddinott2-csae2002.pdf, Presented at "Understanding poverty and growth in sub-Saharan Africa," a conference at the University of Oxford from March 18-19, 2002.
This study empirically examined the effects of the participatory approach on the adoption of new crop varieties and agricultural practices. Particularly, we focused on the social network structure and examined how the introduced technologies diffused through networks in rural Ethiopia. Our empirical results indicate that if farmers knew and trusted fellow participants, the probability of adopting a new variety increased by 25 percentage points. However, this network had no statistical impact on the diffusion of new agricultural practices. We conclude that the participatory approach has great potential in the adoption of new crop varieties through the social networks of farmers in Ethiopia.
