Examines the social dynamics between landlords, tenants and agricultural agency professionals to better understand how those dynamics affect the adoption of sustainable agricultural methods on rented land. Author offers a strategy of change.
Godwin, Deborah D. (author), Marlowe, Julia (author), and Department of Housing and Consumer Economics and Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; Department of Housing and Consumer Economics and Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1990
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 85 Document Number: C05437
James F. Evans Collection, Participation in rural development programs that organize members into local cooperative groups can alter the decision-making environment facing couples to reflect some of the negative consequences of childbearing. This study uses data from Nepal, collected through a combination of ethnographic and survey methods, to test the effects of participation in such a development program on fertility behavior. Results demonstrate that program participants are much more likely to use contraceptives to limit their fertility than are non-participants. The study provides empirical support for theories linking this type of institutional change to fertility and indicates a policy option that can allow some negative consequences of childbearing to affect couples' fertility decisions. (author)
INTERPAKS, Explores a frequently neglected aspect of adoption, namely how family characteristics influence utilization decision. The authors question the typical view of farmers as "individualistic actors", and direct research toward kinship arrangements, extended family networks, and group reinforcement for adoption decisions. The research centers on adoption of soil conservation practices in the Palouse are of Washington and Idaho. The findings demonstrate a definite link between kinship arrangements and adoption behavior: 1) farming with other relatives introduces additional information and opportunities for innovation; 2) two generations farming together tend to be more sensitive to future implications of production technologies. The research is limited to one area and one type of innovation, but it does raise the important issue of how the social organization of production affects adoption decisions.
