Early adoption of conservation agriculture practices: Understanding partial compliance in programs with multiple adoption decisions

Ward, Patrick S.; Bell, Andrew Reid; Droppelmann, Klaus; Benton, Tim G.

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.10.001

Cited by 101 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(47 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The positive impact of EDU on ACT (adoption of conservation tillage) is similar to that in other relevant studies [37,42]. Improving the education level of local farmers would help ACT, and the governments should pay need more attention to it.…”

Section: Education and Perception Of Farmerssupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Nevertheless, the high adoption rate of 89% observed in the survey is likely to be temporary, because most farmers indicated that they would not continue the practice after the government incentive program was completed (Table 7). More importantly, the empirical evidence we present here indicated that ACT was based on complex decision-making; adoption itself was a complex process, and it was influenced by many factors [42]. Thus, the high adoption rate is the result of only a temporal utilization of conservation tillage driven strongly by the implementation of the government extension system.…”

Section: Education and Perception Of Farmersmentioning

confidence: 74%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Adoption of Conservation Tillage on the Semi-Arid Loess Plateau of Northwest China

Han

Siddique

2018

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conservation tillage is an important approach to prevent water loss and soil erosion and promote soil fertility that has been adopted widely throughout the world. However, despite promotion of the benefits of conservation tillage, obstacles are still encountered in some regions. A survey of 385 farmer households in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China was conducted to assess the adoption of conservation tillage (ACT). This investigation was located in two counties that have run conservation tillage demonstrations with wheat for at least eight years. A binary logistic regression model was used to quantify the factors determining whether or not farmers adopt conservation tillage. Farmer's education level, the influence of training, and field demonstrations by agricultural departments had significant positive effects on ACT. Although the adoption rate of conservation tillage in this paper was very high (89%), farmers were reluctant to continue practicing conservation tillage based on their experiences, which is contrary to the expectations of the government. The area available for planting winter wheat and the number of arable plots per household also had significant positive effects on ACT. However, the total cultivated area of land per household had a significant negative impact on ACT. Farmer awareness of conservation tillage technology, the distance from a farmer's house to the nearest agricultural market, and the size of the active labor force in the family had significant negative impacts on ACT. These results will help in the development of more effective and targeted policies to improve the sustainability of farming systems on the semi-arid Loess Plateau.

show abstract

Section: Education and Perception Of Farmerssupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Education and Perception Of Farmersmentioning

confidence: 74%

Adoption of Conservation Tillage on the Semi-Arid Loess Plateau of Northwest China

Han

Siddique

2018

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This finding supports the findings of [27], who characterized the adoption of CA not as one decision nor three but closer to two; one regards intercropping and a second regards the mulching of crop residues over (generally) untilled soil. The second finding of interest is that the set of factors emerging as important, as perceived by the farmers, is different from the set of factors identified as important within the decision tree and random forest approaches (i.e., explaining variation in adoption within the dataset).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Do As They Did: Peer Effects Explain Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Malawi

Cheek

Mataya

Ward

2018

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adoption of the trinity of practices known commonly today as conservation agriculture (CA)-maintaining soil cover, reducing tillage, and enhancing soil nitrogen through legumes-is a critical process to the management of erosion in rural landscapes, and maintenance of aquatic habitats and hydropower potential. However, the large literature on the benefits and risks of CA fails to find any universal determinants of adoption, with competing uses for crop residues, availability of labor, and access to physical inputs common constraints appearing in different contexts. We conduct a study in the specific context of Malawi, using ethnographic interviewing to draw out possible decision criteria and machine learning to identify their explanatory power. This study is structured to inform the question: "How do farmers decide to adopt the specific activities of CA in Malawi?" We find that more than any other factor, adoption by neighbors (i.e., peer effects) matters, with possible implications for the overall cost of encouraging CA (e.g., through subsidies) as it is taken up across a landscape. Further, we note that little else within our household survey (save for more detailed articulation of neighbor and neighborhood characteristics) offers greater explanatory power than those factors identified by farmers themselves. Finally, we note that decisions made in the presence of an incentive are structurally different than those made without incentives, validating previous concerns in the literature regarding the basis most CA adoption studies, within CA promotion interventions.

show abstract

“…Adoption of conservation practices has improved when efforts have combined education, research, policy, and measures to overcome equipment barriers (Kok et al, 2009;Carlisle, 2016)especially when tailored to individual locations (Knowler & Bradshaw, 2007;Rusinamhodzi et al, 2011). Due to the interrelated nature of cropping systems and residue management, suites of conservation practices are often adopted simultaneously (Ward et al, 2018), providing multiple benefits that can justify the sometimes higher costs of conservation practices.…”

Section: Prospects and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil conservation practices for insect pest management in highly disturbed agroecosystems – a review

Alyokhin

Nault

Brown

2019

Entomologia Exp Applicata

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Decline in soil health is a serious worldwide problem that decreases complexity and stability of agricultural ecosystems, commonly making them more prone to outbreaks of herbivorous insect pests. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L., Solanaceae) and onion (Allium cepa L., Amaryllidaceae) production is currently characterized by high soil disturbance and heavy reliance on synthetic inputs, including insecticides. Evidence suggests that adopting soil conservation techniques often (but not always) increases mortality and decreases reproductive output for the major insect pests of these important vegetable crops. Known mechanisms responsible for such an effect include increases in density and activity of natural enemy populations, enhanced plant defenses, and modified physical characteristics of respective agricultural habitats. However, most research efforts focused on mulches and organic soil amendments, with additional research needed on elucidating effects and their mechanisms for conservation tillage, cover crops, and arbuscular mycorrhizae.

show abstract

Early adoption of conservation agriculture practices: Understanding partial compliance in programs with multiple adoption decisions

Abstract: Journal articleIFPRI3; ISI; CRP2; Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Assets and Market Access; A Ensuring Sustainable food production; D Transforming AgricultureEPTD; PIMPRCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

Cited by 101 publications

References 42 publications

Adoption of Conservation Tillage on the Semi-Arid Loess Plateau of Northwest China

Adoption of Conservation Tillage on the Semi-Arid Loess Plateau of Northwest China

Do As They Did: Peer Effects Explain Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Malawi

Soil conservation practices for insect pest management in highly disturbed agroecosystems – a review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About