From Best Fit Technologies to Best Fit Scaling: Incorporating and Evaluating Factors Affecting the Adoption of Grain Legumes in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

SUMMARYThe success of scaling out depends on a clear understanding of the factors that affect adoption of grain legumes and account for the dynamism of those factors across heterogeneous contexts of sub-Saharan Africa. We reviewed literature on adoption of grain legumes and other technologies in sub- ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Corresponding author.

Farmers’ use and adaptation of improved climbing bean production practices in the highlands of Uganda

“…However, we observed a large variability in yield, and farmers’ own climbing bean plots yielded better than the N2Africa plots in some seasons and sites. This might lead to questions about the suitability of the technology for the area, as ‘biophysical relevance’ is the most frequently mentioned factor influencing the adoption of legumes ( Farrow et al, 2016 ). However, variability in yields and responses to the different practices is common in on-farm trials ( Franke et al, 2016 , Ronner et al, 2016 , Van Vugt et al, 2017 ).…”

“…We also explored the relationship between the use of climbing bean production practices and a range of agro-ecological, plot and household characteristics. Variables selected were largely based on previous work on understanding the heterogeneity of African smallholder farming systems ( Giller et al, 2011 , Tittonell et al, 2005 , Tittonell et al, 2010 ), and on adoption studies of agricultural technologies ( Feder and Umali, 1993 , Kassie et al, 2015 , Knowler and Bradshaw, 2007 ) and legumes ( Farrow et al, 2016 ). Agro-ecological characteristics are important to determine the biophysical relevance of technologies ( Farrow et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Variables selected were largely based on previous work on understanding the heterogeneity of African smallholder farming systems ( Giller et al, 2011 , Tittonell et al, 2005 , Tittonell et al, 2010 ), and on adoption studies of agricultural technologies ( Feder and Umali, 1993 , Kassie et al, 2015 , Knowler and Bradshaw, 2007 ) and legumes ( Farrow et al, 2016 ). Agro-ecological characteristics are important to determine the biophysical relevance of technologies ( Farrow et al, 2016 ). Plot characteristics such as land tenure, soil fertility and soil depth are often considered in relationship with the willingness to invest in improvement of the land ( Banadda, 2010 , Kassie et al, 2015 , Kerr et al, 2007 ).…”

The Options by Context Approach: A Paradigm Shift in Agronomy

“…Large-scale impact requires evidence-based innovations to be widely adopted, for which it is necessary to generate innovations suitable for the range of contexts that pertain across large geographies and to understand which innovations are suitable for which contexts. Articles in this issue focus on how an OxC approach can be implemented from initial stakeholder engagement to identify and target suitable options (Smith-Dumont et al , 2019; Descheemaeker et al , 2019; Berre et al , 2019) through information collection, analysis and sharing (Coe et al , 2019; Vanlauwe et al , 2019; Nelson et al , 2019) to scaling up adoption (Farrow et al , 2019). The prospects for incorporating both local knowledge (Lamond et al , 2019; van der Wolf et al , 2019) and the latest advances in crowdsourcing data (van Etten et al , 2019) in implementing an OxC approach are considered.…”

“…When research aims to find and establish enabling environments in which farms can flourish the distinctions between the O, C and P can get fuzzy. Farrow et al (2019) find it useful to break down OxC conceptually into interactions between different genetic components, management and environment. This approach helps understand and structure the problem they are investigating and highlights the way OxC is most useful for framing thinking and planning, rather than as a rigidly defined quantity than can be measured and reported in the way a breeder might report results of a GxE analysis.…”