Is farmer-to-farmer extension effective? The impact of training on technology adoption and rice farming productivity in Tanzania

Abstract

Agricultural training is a potentially effective method to diffuse relevant new technologies to increase productivity and alleviate rural poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, since it is prohibitively expensive to provide direct training to all the farmers in SSA, it is critically important to examine the extent to which technologies taught to a small number of farmers disseminate to non-trained farmers. This paper investigates the technology dissemination pathways among smallholder rice producers within a rural irrigation scheme in Tanzania. As an innovative feature, we compare the performance of three categories of farmers: key farmers, who receive intensive pre-season training at a local training center; intermediate farmers, who are trained by the key farmers; and other ordinary farmers. By collecting and analyzing a unique five-year household-level panel data set, we estimate difference-indifferences models to assess how the gap in performance evolve as the technologies spill over from the trained farmers to the ordinary farmers. To disentangle the technology spillover process, we also examine the extent to which social and geographical network with the key and intermediate farmers influences the adoption of technologies by the ordinary farmers, by incorporating social relationship variables into spatial econometric models. We found that the ordinary farmers who were a relative or residential neighbor of a key or intermediate farmer were more likely to adopt new technologies than those who were not. As a result, while the key farmers' technology adoption rates rose immediately after the training, those of the non-trained ordinary farmers caught up belatedly. As the technologies disseminated, the paddy yield of the key farmers increased from 3.1 to 5.3 tons per hectare, while the yield of the ordinary farmers increased from 2.6 to 3.7 tons per hectare. Our results suggest the effectiveness and practical potential of farmer-to-farmer extension programs for smallholders in SSA as a cost effective alternative to the conventional farmer training approach.

Assessing the Role of the Perceived Impact of Climate Change on National Adaptation Policy: The Case of Rice Farming in Indonesia

“…Facilitating the establishment of farmer-to-farmer extension provides a strong foundation for sustainable agricultural extension. Farmer-to-farmer extension provides a cost-effective training method for farmers, since trained farmers disseminate their useful knowledge to the non-trained farmer, and the non-trained farmer is eager to adopt the technology used by the trained farmer to increase yield and profit [98]. A strong positive effect of formal education on a farmer's resilience with respect to CC suggests that farmer-to-farmer extension provided by an educated farmer potentially increases the resilience of the recipient.…”

Factores socioeconómicos para mejorar la producción y comercialización de la nuez pecanera en la Comarca Lagunera

“…Pan y Zhang (2018) encontraron que la capacitación en el uso de los fertilizantes incrementó 40% el conocimiento sobre su manejo. Nakano et al (2018); Baloch y Thapa (2016) encontraron rendimientos mayores en las huertas de productores que recibieron capacitación, pero además observaron que en el tiempo la diferencia en productividad se amplió en comparación con aquellos que no se capacitaron. Orona et al (2006), en un trabajo sobre nogal en la Comarca Lagunera, sugirieron capacitación específicamente en manejo de plagas y enfermedades y uso de sistemas de riego eficientes.…”

“…Una manera de hacer llegar esos desarrollos a los agricultores es la capacitación. De acuerdo con Nakano et al (2018) la capacitación es un método efectivo para difundir las nuevas tecnologías, incrementar la productividad y disminuir la pobreza rural. Dado que la capacitación tiene un alto costo, el reto para estos autores es elegir el mejor método al más bajo costo para llevar los conocimientos a los agricultores (Nakano et al, 2018).…”

“…De acuerdo con Nakano et al (2018) la capacitación es un método efectivo para difundir las nuevas tecnologías, incrementar la productividad y disminuir la pobreza rural. Dado que la capacitación tiene un alto costo, el reto para estos autores es elegir el mejor método al más bajo costo para llevar los conocimientos a los agricultores (Nakano et al, 2018). Rocoet al (2012) identificaron a la capacitación como un factor que influye en la adopción de prácticas agrícolas de conservación de suelo y agua.…”

Show and Tell: Causal Impacts of Field Days on Farmer Learning for Organic Inputs in Kenya

“…Some recent literature has specifically examined the spread of technology from trained farmers to others in their network. Looking at five-year panel data from Tanzania, Nakano et al (2018) found evidence of the diffusion of improved rice technology from trained primary farmers to other farmers in their villages, while Kondylis, Mueller, and Zhu (2017) show large positive effects from training contact farmers on community adoption rates of technology in Mozambique. In their survey of the FFS literature, however, Waddington et al (2014) found limited evidence of diffusion of information from FFS farmers to other farmers in their village.…”