Factors influencing adoption of land‐enhancing technology in the Sahel: lessons from a case study in Niger

Abstract

Technical change, through the introduction of land‐enhancing conservation technologies, is essential to economic growth in the Sahel. Tobit analysis was used to identify factors that motivate level and intensity of adoption of specific soil and water management technologies. The results show that higher percentage of degraded farmland, extension education, lower risk aversion, and the availability of short‐term profits are important for increasing the adoption and intensity of use of improved ‘tassa’ and half‐crescent shaped earthen mounds. Age and attitudes to differential gains between farm and non‐farm income showed no influence on adoption. Three main policy implications emerge from these findings. First, technologies should be targeted to locations that have large percentages ol degraded farmlands. The probability of adoption and intensity of use are likely to be high at such locations. Second, there is the need to provide extension education that demonstrates risk reduction capacities of conservation techniques. I his will make available information capable of stimulating adoption of land‐enhancing technologies. Finally, policy‐makers should not seek to target innovations to younger farmers because age has no relationship to adoption of the improved ‘tassa’ and half‐crescent shaped earthen mounds. Lessons from the case study have broad relevance to cropped areas in the Sahel.

Farmers' perceptions and knowledge of soil fertility degradation in two contrasting sites in western Kenya

“…The use of a binary choice variable as the dependent variable may not capture the levels of perceptions of soil fertility. As Baidu‐Forson (1999) point out, there is possible loss of information if a binary variable is used as the dependent variable. This is because knowledge of whether a farmer perceives or does not perceive soil fertility degradation may not provide sufficient information about the farmer's behaviour as farmers have various extent of perception soil fertility degradation.…”

“…This is because of recognition that farmers' perceptions can offer useful indications of environmental conditions (Murage et al, 2000; Payton et al, 2003). Moreover, there is evidence that farmers' perceptions of soil erosion or fertility decline encourage the adoption of soil conservation practices and land productivity enhancing technologies (Ervin and Ervin, 1982; Baidu‐Forson, 1999; Shiferaw and Holden, 1998; Degrande and Duguma, 2000; Mbaga‐Semgalawe and Folmer, 2000). In contrast, farmers may perceive the problem but give priority to other problems when deciding how to invest their resources due to situational constraints such as lack of financial resources to buy inputs and lack of technical information (Franzel 1999; Mbaga‐Semgalawe and Folmer, 2000).…”

Simultaneous modelling of the perception of and adaptation to climate change: The case of the maize producers in northern Benin

“…l'adaptation des producteurs au changement climatique est déjà mise en exergue dans les travaux de Maddison (2007), Gbetibouo (2009) et Deressa et al (2011). D'autres études telles que celles de Baidu-Forson (1999) puis Bekele et Drake (2003) (Maddison, 2007 ;Gnanglè et al, 2012 ;Yegbemey et al, 2013 ;Piya et al, 2013) qui permet de réduire les risques en cas de mauvaises récoltes et donc de perte de revenus. En ce sens, les producteurs qui possèdent déjà une activité secondaire auraient une plus forte probabilité à s'adapter au changement climatique.…”

Socioeconomic and institutional factors influencing adoption of conservation farming by vulnerable households in Zimbabwe

“…These models use a binary choice variable as a dependent variable. However, the use of a binary choice variable as a dependent variable may not capture adoption intensity (Baidu-Forson, 1999;Brett, 2004). To overcome this problem the use of a Tobit estimation method (Tobin, 1956;McDonald and Moffit, 1980) has been proposed for analyzing adoption intensity where the dependent variable is continuous with a zero limit.…”