Adopters, testers or pseudo-adopters? Dynamics of the use of improved tree fallows by farmers in western Kenya

Kiptot, Evelyne; Hebinck, Paul; Franzel, Steven; Richards, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2007.01.002

Cited by 128 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The results of this study suggest in line with earlier research [19,32] that the availability of information and training are important for farmers' decisions to start testing a new technology whereas socio-cultural issues becomes an additional challenge for a continuation beyond the testing phase leading to adoption of the technology [16][17][18][19][20]. This study also demonstrates the importance of governance and collaboration for the adoption process, the need to integrate project activities and capacity building into local structures to provide leverage in adaptation, adoption, and scaling up.…”

Section: The Process Of Learning Adaption and Adoption: Synthesizingsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…The point of departure for this study was previous studies stressing the importance of the socio-cultural context and governance system in agroforestry development and the development process itself [16,17,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]32]. Apart from the differences revealed among villages influencing agroforestry adoption in Johansson et al [32], the study pointed out the need to further study the socio-cultural and governance differences at multiple levels and the dynamics of the scaling up process itself [32].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This multiple method approach enables us to better consider the socio-cultural realm and the governance context within which the adoption of agroforestry takes place stressed in a number of agroforestry adoption studies (e.g., [11,16,[18][19][20]29]). Similar multiple-method approaches have proved useful in other research fields, e.g., health sector [44,45], recreation [46] and in inter-sector studies of health and horticulture research [47].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Ajayi et al [19] has argued that the explanation to the contradicting results of some agroforestry adoption studies lays in the institutional and social context. Mainly based on adoption studies of improved tree fallow, Kiptot et al [20] have argued for the need to consider households in different stages of adoption, e.g., testers/experimenters, re-adopters, pseudo-adopters and adopters as motives differ during these stages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of agroforestry-adoption studies have been based on formal household/farm surveys comparing the characteristics of non-adopters with that of adopters [18,20,28,29]. Mercer [29] identified village-level studies and spatial analysis of adoption as an important area for future research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Pattern and Process of Adoption and Scaling up: Variation in Project Outcome Reveals the Importance of Multilevel Collaboration in Agroforestry Development

Johansson

Axelsson

Kimanzu³

et al. 2013

Sustainability

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Agroforestry is considered a subsistence system that balances the urgent need for food and income of small scale farmers with restoration and conservation of ecosystem services, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. The Vi Agroforestry Program aims to implement agroforestry as a means to alleviate poverty and increase resilience among the poorest smallholders. After seven years, the Vi Agroforestry Project in the Mara Region of Tanzania had an inter-village variation in the proportion of households with tangible surviving agroforestry trees ranging from 10%-90%. Using a multiple methods approach, this variation was analysed in relation to changes and differences among administrative districts and project zones regarding perceived barriers to agroforestry adoption, project interventions, governance and the chronology of the process. In districts and zones where collaboration among the project staff, government counterparts and other stakeholders had been established at multiple levels, more agroforestry trees survived and a OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2013, 5 5196 larger proportion of households practiced agroforestry. The established collaboration made it possible to discover and consider opportunities and barriers to agroforestry development such as diverse stakeholder interests and perceptions. As a result, potential conflicts could be avoided and socially robust solutions developed, adapted and integrated into the local subsistence systems.

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Section: The Process Of Learning Adaption and Adoption: Synthesizingsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Pattern and Process of Adoption and Scaling up: Variation in Project Outcome Reveals the Importance of Multilevel Collaboration in Agroforestry Development

Johansson

Axelsson

Kimanzu³

et al. 2013

Sustainability

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Live fences – a hidden resource of soil fertility in West Kenya

Theobald

Mussgnug

Becker

2014

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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In the highlands of Western Kenya, intensified land use combined with low use of mineral fertilizers at farm level is driving soil nutrient depletion and declining yield levels. All farms and individual field crop plots are surrounded by life fences and the area under such hedge structure is estimated to cover 3-5% of the total farmland area. The land below the hedges is not tilled and may receive nutrient and carbon inputs by the occasional addition of field crop residues and litter fall. We hypothesized that the areas covered by live fences represent not only an important land resource, but are also largely untapped sites characterized by high soil fertility in an otherwise largely degraded environment. We characterized physico-chemical attributes of top soils collected on farmland and from adjacent live fences composed of five different fencing species in representative environments of Kakamega district (sandy Acrisol and bimodal rainfall distribution vs. clay Ferralsol and monomodal rainfall distribution). In addition, the maize production potential of these soils was assessed in a supplementary pot experiment. Concentrations and total amounts of soil C, N, N supplying capacity, exchangeable K, as well as aggregate stability tended to be higher in hedge structures than in field crop soil. The amount of labile (permanganate-oxidizable) carbon and the carbon management index in fence lines on Acrisol were similar to those of the adjacent Kakamega rain forest reserve, while they were reduced by > 50% in crop fields. These trends were reflected in the biomass and N and K uptake by maize in potted soil. Effects were generally larger in Acrisol than in Ferralsol and were most pronounced with Tithonia diversifolia. We conclude that live fences are soil fertility hotspots that may be valorised in the future by replacing the generally unproductive fencing species with economical perennial crops.

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Why do smallholder farmers dis‐adopt conservation agriculture? Insights from Malawi

2018

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International donors and advisory bodies, governments, and nongovernmental organisations are actively promoting conservation agriculture (CA) to improve agricultural productivity and resilience to climate change impacts. However, many smallholder farmers continue to dis‐adopt (abandon) the technology. Reasons for dis‐adoption are not well known. This article examines farmers' lived experiences and perceptions of CA to understand why smallholder farmers dis‐adopt CA in Malawi. Improving understanding of dis‐adoption of this seemingly appropriate intervention is important to achieve sustained adoption and for ensuring long‐lasting impacts of agricultural development project interventions. A mixed methods approach was used, involving household questionnaire survey and focus group discussions with smallholder farmers. Findings reveal that although drivers of dis‐adoption are multidimensional and multilayered, they are rooted in shortfalls of CA promoters' implementation arrangements. Although CA proponents market CA as a time‐saving, labour‐saving, and yield‐improving technology, respondents report contrary experiences. Our findings show that farmers lack sufficient technical support and encounter technological, social, institutional, and economic challenges. These, coupled with unfulfilled expectations, undermine ownership of CA projects and lead to dis‐adoption. This highlights a need to (a) collaboratively design projects to better suit local needs and context with inclusive implementation arrangements; (b) emphasise climate resilience benefits of CA rather than economic benefits to manage farmers' expectations; (c) intensify multidisciplinary research that incorporates farmers' knowledge and experiences to develop suitable, flexible, and low‐input CA packages; and (d) provide regular hands‐on technical extension support to farmers.

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Adopters, testers or pseudo-adopters? Dynamics of the use of improved tree fallows by farmers in western Kenya

Cited by 128 publications

References 22 publications

The Pattern and Process of Adoption and Scaling up: Variation in Project Outcome Reveals the Importance of Multilevel Collaboration in Agroforestry Development

The Pattern and Process of Adoption and Scaling up: Variation in Project Outcome Reveals the Importance of Multilevel Collaboration in Agroforestry Development

Live fences – a hidden resource of soil fertility in West Kenya

Why do smallholder farmers dis‐adopt conservation agriculture? Insights from Malawi

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