Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 107 Document Number: C10126
Notes:
search from AgEcon., American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, August 2-5, 1998, Salt Lake City, Utah. 5 pages; Adobe Acrobat PDF 18K bytes, Selected Paper Session SP - 6R Adoption of Technology in Developing Countries Abstract/Description: These
papers move beyond the questions of who adopts technologies to ask how preferences for characteristics (of maize in Mexico or cattle in Burkina Faso) affect adoption and how technical change differentially affects semi-subsistence farmers and how it affects productivity and yield variability. Modeling the Impacts of Soil Conservation on Productivity and Yield Variability: Evidence From a Heteroskedastic Switching Regression Gerald Shively, Purdue University Selecting Genetic Traits for Cattle Improvement: Preservation of Disease Resistant Cattle in Africa Kouadio Tano, University of Abidjan; Merle Faminow, University of Manitoba Variety Characteristics and the Land Allocation Decisions of Farmers in a Center of Maize Diversity Melinda Smale, Maricio Bellon, and Alfonso Aguirre The Distributional Impacts of Farm Policy in Semi-subsistence Agriculture Garth Holloway and Nermin Akyil, AERI
21 pages, We evaluate causal impacts of a large-scale agricultural extension program for smallholder women farmers on technology adoption and food security in Uganda through a regression discontinuity design that exploits an arbitrary distance-to-branch threshold for village program eligibility. We find eligible farmers used better basic cultivation methods, achieved improved food security. Given minimal changes in adoption of relatively expensive inputs, we attribute these gains to improved cultivation methods that require low upfront monetary investment. Farmers also modified their shock-coping methods. These results highlight the role of information and training in boosting agricultural productivity among poor farmers and, indirectly, improving food security.
7 pages., As the information revolution sweeps through the agricultural sector, extension professionals may be lagging behind their clients in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) such as social media, which could be a valuable tool for outreach and education. We surveyed sustainable agriculture stakeholders in California - extension professionals, county agricultural commissioners, and members of farm bureaus and producer groups - to measure their ICT behavior and attitudes. Drawing on diffusion of innovation theory, we characterized the innovation attributes of ICT that may influence the adoption and use of new technology among extension professionals. We also studied their demographic characteristics to establish whether there was a connection with ICT use. The main perceived benefit of ICT was that it can quickly reach larger, more diverse and more distant audiences. The perceived challenges included lack of professional support, the potential for misinformation on social media platforms, and the time requirements and technical complexity of technology use. Extension professionals experienced these challenges more than other sustainable agriculture stakeholders, creating a technology gap between extension professionals and their clientele. An ICT community of practice and clear organizational guidelines for measuring and reporting performance relating to ICT might help extension professionals dose the gap.
This paper examines factors influencing the adoption of improved maize seeds and the use of inorganic fertilizer for maize production by farmers in the intermediate and lowland zones of Tanzania. The results indicate that availability of extention services, on -farm field trials, variety characteristics and rainfall were the most important factors that influcented the extent of adopting improved maize seeds and the use of inorganic fertilizer for maize production. Farmers preferred those varieties which minimize field loss rather than maximizing yields. Future research and extension policies should empahsize farmer participation in the research process and on-farm field trials for varietal evaluation and demonstration purposes.
10 pages., The smart farm, a future-oriented farm operation that integrates information and communications technologies, is an emerging trend in agriculture. This study investigates the factors affecting the adoption of the smart farm in Korea and analyzes them empirically. The research model is based on Rogers' innovation diffusion theory and existing models of adoption of information technology in organizations. The model proposes that adoption of innovative technology is influenced by relative advantages, complexity, and compatibility of the technology, the innovativeness and IT knowledge characteristics of the CEOs, financial costs, human resource vulnerability and lack of skills, competitive pressure, government support and the change to the digital environment. These factors were categorized according to TOE framework, investigated, and empirically tested using survey data to determine their influence on the adoption of smart farms. The results showed that the compatibility of technology, financial costs for the organization, and the digital environment change influence the adoption of smart farms. This study suggests practical implications for the adoption of smart farm technology based on the results.
