Awareness and adoption of positive selection technology among yam farmers in West Africa

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how awareness influences the adoption of positive selection (PS) technology among smallholder yam farmers in West Africa. PS has the potential of increasing yield and reducing disease incidence and severity in yam production.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies the average treatment effect (ATE) methodology to estimate the rates of awareness and adoption of the PS technology and associated factors using data from 678 smallholder seed yam farmers in Ghana and Nigeria.FindingsThe results indicate that the actual adoption rates of PS technology are 58 and 55%, while the potential adoption rates are estimated at 89.5 and 79.3% for Ghana and Nigeria, respectively, if the PS technology was fully disseminated. This leads to adoption gaps of 31.7 and 24.8%, respectively, for Ghana and Nigeria stemming from incomplete awareness of the PS among the population of yam growing farmers. The PS adoption is high among the educated young farmers who are members of farmer based organizations and participate in demonstrations.Practical implicationsPromotional efforts for enhancing awareness and adoption of PS should target educated youth willing to participate in field demonstrations and should focus on scaling up of PS technology to ensure quality farmer saved seed yams and enhance yam productivity in West Africa.Originality/valueThe introduction of PS in seed yam production is quite recent also its introduction to seed yam farmers in West Africa. Subsequently, a better understanding of what the adoption status would be should everyone in the population of yam farmers are aware of PS is vital for policy, research and development.

Improved nursery practices and farmers’ willingness to adopt heat-tolerant tomatoes under tropical conditions

“…In addition, farmers are able to appreciate the importance of these practices and better understand them during dissemination techniques by extension agents and other sources. The result are similar to the findings (Enrique and Eduardo, 2006;Alhassan et al, 2018;Baiyegunhi et al, 2019;Barnes et al, 2019;Kondo et al, 2020;Asante et al, 2021), where positive effects were found with education and adoption of improved technologies.…”

“…Extension visits positively and significantly influenced the adoption of fertilizer application and hardening practices; thus, farmers are more likely to adopt these practices and other improved production practices through advice and guidance obtained from extension agents. Consistent with previous studies (Ayandiji and Adeniyi, 2011;Simtowe et al, 2016;Asante et al, 2017;Alhassan et al, 2018;Asante et al, 2021; extension has been found to positively influence the adoption of improved crop production technologies. Farmers are more likely to access to staking information and best staking times through FBO membership.…”