Social capital and agricultural innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Exploring the role of social capital in influencing knowledge flows and innovation in smallholder farming communities in the Caribbean

“…These results suggest that not only is bridging social capital within the knowledge network potentially positive for innovation, but the links between alters or Bfriends of friends^in the network is also important. This finding is supported by van Rijn et al (2012) who suggested that the larger the network of adopters (direct and indirect links), the greater the likelihood that farmers would adopt innovations due to increased knowledge, access to resource and sources of support (see also Wossen et al 2013).…”

“…In Marquis, the knowledge network (Fig. 4b) was based more directly on bonding social capital, known to foster group identity and cohesiveness, but be less responsive to externally driven innovation and change processes (Burt 1995;van Rijn et al 2012). Despite their differences, both knowledge networks can be seen as performing a critical function in the smallholder agricultural innovation system, by providing a trusted means to support innovation, and facilitate farmer knowledge exchange beyond what is available through the formal institutions of government.…”

“…Recognizing that previous research has identified positive and negative relationships among social capital, information flow, and agricultural innovation in smallholder farming systems (van Rijn et al 2012;Dessie et al 2013;Speranza 2013;Wossen et al 2013;Chen et al 2014), relatively little is known about the nature and extent of social capital in Caribbean agriculture. This is significant because an improved understanding of social capital dynamics within Caribbean smallholder farming systems has been identified as having the potential to inform sustainable natural resource management policy and practice (Adger 2003;Pelling and High 2005) and contribute to regional food and nutrition security objectives (Lowitt et al 2015a).…”

“…In particular, it plays an important role in developing area contexts where strong social ties function to counter poorly developed or weak institutions (Fafchamps 2006;van Rijn et al 2012;Lowitt et al 2015a). For example, social capital has been used to assess the barriers and opportunities for rural community collective action (Rastogi et al 2014;Rahman et al 2015); to improve understanding of agricultural innovation in smallholder farming systems (van Rijn et al 2012); to help design more integrative and decentralized policy frameworks (Bodin and Crona 2009;Crona and Hubacek 2010); and to enhance collaborative governance through supportive community institutions (Compton and Beeton 2012).…”

“…In particular, it plays an important role in developing area contexts where strong social ties function to counter poorly developed or weak institutions (Fafchamps 2006;van Rijn et al 2012;Lowitt et al 2015a). For example, social capital has been used to assess the barriers and opportunities for rural community collective action (Rastogi et al 2014;Rahman et al 2015); to improve understanding of agricultural innovation in smallholder farming systems (van Rijn et al 2012); to help design more integrative and decentralized policy frameworks (Bodin and Crona 2009;Crona and Hubacek 2010); and to enhance collaborative governance through supportive community institutions (Compton and Beeton 2012). Through such research, social capital has been usefully conceptualized as comprising three dimensions: 1) bonding social capital, which includes the horizontal connections found within a group, (also referred to as 'strong ties'); 2) bridging social capital, involving the horizontal links that are found connecting or bridging individuals who belong to distinct groups ('weak ties'); and 3) linking social capital, described as vertical ties to sources of power and finance developed among social actors involved in shared tasks to improve the common good (Grootaert et al 2003;Sabatini 2009).…”