Improving the speed of adoption of agricultural technologies and farm performance through farmer groups: evidence from the Great Lakes region of Africa

Ainembabazi, John Herbert; Asten, Piet J.A. van; Vanlauwe, Bernard; Ouma, Emily A.; Blomme, Guy; Birachi, Eliud Abucheli; Nguezet, Paul Martin Dontsop; Mignouna, Djana; Manyong, Víctor M.

doi:10.1111/agec.12329

Cited by 63 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Similar to the findings in Ainembabazi et al. (), the maps suggest that participation in the farmer group induces fast adoption of the new technology among the participating farmers. But the maps furthermore illustrate how banana cultivation diffuses to nonparticipants over time.…”

Section: Ripat and Improved Banana Cultivationsupporting

confidence: 85%

When knowledgeable neighbors also share seedlings: diffusion of banana cultivation in Tanzania

Larsen

2018

Agricultural Economics

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Networks have been found to increase adoption of technology by providing information about the new technology (e.g., Conley and Udry, 2010). However, little is known about provision of necessary inputs for adoption through networks. Using data from an intervention in Tanzania, I discuss how a farmer's network can also affect the adoption of improved banana cultivation by providing seedlings. A solidarity chain principle obliged project farmers to pass on improved seedlings to other farmers free of charge. I provide a theoretical framework to guide intuition for the empirical results and suggest an empirical distinction between information and input provision through networks. Empirically, I find support for network effects through provision of both information and inputs, jointly boosting the network effect on adoption: a farmer is 39 percentage points more likely to adopt banana cultivation if there is at least one banana grower in the farmer's network compared to none. In this setting, it is not possible to fully disentangle the input and information channel. While the findings suggest that a solidarity chain principle could be an interesting avenue to boost local diffusion of new technologies, more research is needed to unpack the causal impact and the interplay with existing input markets.JEL classifications: D83, O13, O33, Q16

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Section: Ripat and Improved Banana Cultivationsupporting

confidence: 85%

When knowledgeable neighbors also share seedlings: diffusion of banana cultivation in Tanzania

Larsen

2018

Agricultural Economics

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“…Similarly, prevalence of older varieties with 12 years of adoption lags and 18 years of weighted varietal age in Nepal was reported by Gautam et al [12] and Velasco et al [36]. The adoption lags can be reduced to promote agricultural technologies using communitybased organizations and private seed companies [1,2,24]. About 27% adoption gap of improved pigeon pea is reported in Malawi due to incomplete exposure to the improved pigeon pea varieties [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…is the third most important cereal after rice (4,299,079 Mt.) and maize (2,231,517 Mt. ), contributing 20% of the total cereal production in Nepal [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons for promotion of new agricultural technology: a case of Vijay wheat variety in Nepal

et al. 2018

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Background: Wheat is the third important cereal after rice and maize in Nepal. Its yield suffers from several factors such as lack of reliable irrigation, inclement weather, incidence of disease and lack of improved technology. New virulence race Ug99 (Uganda-99) has threatened all available commercial wheat varieties around the world and Asia. Some of the popular varieties of wheat in Nepal are also getting susceptible to different diseases. Vijay is one of the recently released first Ug99-resistant improved wheat varieties for Terai region in Nepal. Nepal has put special emphasis on the seed production and diffusion of this variety to promote rapidly in the farmers' fields to mitigate the potential epidemics of newly emerging pathotype of stem rust (Ug99). This variety is being promoted by several organizations and seed companies' before and after its release. Therefore, this study was undertaken to know the seed supply of Vijay and identify the factors that are contributing for its commercialization.Methods: Sunsari, Morang, Rupandehi, Banke and Kailali districts were selected purposely representing Eastern, Western, Mid-western and Far-Western Terai regions of Nepal, respectively. Seed companies, agro-vets (input dealers) and cooperatives involved in Vijay seed multiplication and distribution in the respective districts were selected for the purpose of the study. From the list of agro-vets in respective study sites, a total of 87 wheat seed selling agro-vets were selected randomly as a sample. The sample survey covered 44% of the target population in both categories (dealers and non-dealers of national seed company). Out of total samples, 40% were national seed company dealer agro-vets, while 60% were non-dealers. Multivariate regression analysis was used to find out different factors responsible for commercialization of Vijay seed. Results:Results indicate that about 67% of the agro-vets were involved in Vijay seed trading and their average time of involvement was 2.65 years. Majority of the agro-vets perceived this variety performed better than other existing popular varieties such as Gautam, Bhrikuti, Aditya and Nepal 297. However, there was still gap in timely supply of the seed. Based on the estimated Certified-1 seed production in 2015/16, Vijay must cover 56.88% (11,943 ha) of total wheat area in Terai, but share of Vijay seed was about 22% of the total wheat seed sold by agro-vets in 2015/16. Nevertheless, it seems that this variety is getting popular in the study area compared to other improved wheat varieties in short time period. The factors influencing commercialization of Vijay were: agro-vets having dealership of national seed company, perception on comparative better performance of Vijay with Nepal 297, total quantity of wheat seed sold by agro-vets and total business transaction of the agro-vets. Moreover, other factors such as pre-release multiplication of Vijay variety by private seed companies and participation on seed related training have found positive contribution on its commercializati...

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“…Numerous studies have examined the factors that determine farmers’ adoption of agricultural technologies in developing countries, particularly focusing on their socioeconomic conditions and farm characteristics (Feder and Umali, ; Doss, ; Foster and Rosenzweig, ; Ainembabazi et al., ). Recent studies show the growing importance of climate‐related problems such as drought and floods aside from the one mentioned above as the major factors to consider in studying adoption of a certain crops (Cavatassi et al., ).…”

Section: Technology Development and Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neighbors follow early adopters under stress: panel data analysis of submergence‐tolerant rice in northern Bangladesh

Yamano¹,

Malabayabas

Habib

et al. 2018

Agricultural Economics

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The benefits of a stress-tolerant crop become visible under the stresses that the crop is tolerant against. We investigate the adoption of submergence-tolerant rice in northern Bangladesh by using panel data of 461 households, interviewed in 2013 and 2015. The sample households were randomly selected in 31 villages where submergence-tolerant rice seeds were given to a small number of farmers in each village. The results from the household fixed-effects model indicate that submergence in the previous year increased the adoption of submergence-tolerant rice. The adoption impact was larger among farmers who were neighbors of early seed recipients. Our results suggest that being neighbors of early seed recipients may have helped the neighboring farmers observe the benefits of the submergence-tolerant rice under submergence. The results indicate the importance of the information flow from early recipients to neighboring farmers. JEL classifications:

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Improving the speed of adoption of agricultural technologies and farm performance through farmer groups: evidence from the Great Lakes region of Africa

Cited by 63 publications

References 51 publications

When knowledgeable neighbors also share seedlings: diffusion of banana cultivation in Tanzania

When knowledgeable neighbors also share seedlings: diffusion of banana cultivation in Tanzania

Lessons for promotion of new agricultural technology: a case of Vijay wheat variety in Nepal

Neighbors follow early adopters under stress: panel data analysis of submergence‐tolerant rice in northern Bangladesh

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