Understanding Adoption of Innovations and Behavior Change to Improve Agricultural Policy

Abstract

Research on the adoption of new practices and new behaviors in agriculture continues to grow and evolve, and its relevance to policy remains high. This special issue presents 10 papers that provide overviews of important aspects of the recent adoption literature, or identify gaps and opportunities in the literature. Adoption research has been innovative in a number of ways, including its recognition of adoption decision making as a process, not an event; its emphases on heterogeneity and learning; and its strong multidisciplinary flavor. There is scope for further innovation through efforts to enhance predictions of adoption, better understanding the balance between profit and non‐profit motivations, and better recognizing the influence on adoption of characteristics of the innovations, not just characteristics of the potential adopters and their contexts. Opportunities for policy include effort to support women farmers' adoption of beneficial innovations in developing countries, and use of tools and approaches from marketing in public extension programs

The Adoption of Improved Agricultural Technologies - a Meta-Analysis for Africa

“…Our findings indicate that policy approaches commonly used to increase uptake of improved agricultural practices are indeed targeting significant determinants of adoption in the African context. They are also generally aligned with recent analyses of determinants of adoption in the broader literature, particularly on the importance of social networks as well as features of the technologies in the adoption decision (Pannell and Zilberman, 2020). Recognition of the importance of collective action is exhibited by the increase in studies examining farmer group participation, which reflects the shift from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governments primarily engaging in information provision to participatory approaches that support resilient agricultural systems (FAO 2014(FAO , 2017Vanlauwe et al, 2017).…”

“…group membership, number of social connections). A recent special issue of the Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy journal provides the most up-todate review of the literature on the adoption of agricultural innovations (Pannell and Zilberman, 2020). A review of this literature is outside the scope of this article, and we only discuss its current relevance in the light of recent development discourse on agricultural productivity and sustainability with a focus on Africa.…”

Informing Food Security and Nutrition Strategies in Sub‐Saharan African Countries: An Overview and Empirical Analysis

“…In addition to the issues of climate‐smart and sustainable agriculture, the association between adoption of improved agricultural technologies and household welfare has received considerable attention among policymakers and researchers (Abdulai and Huffman 2005; Foster and Rosenzweig 2010). This is due to the long recognition that productivity growth in agriculture partly depends on the availability of improved technologies and the adoption of these technologies (Foster and Rosenzweig 2010; Pannell and Zilberman 2020). Studies on this front can be broadly categorized into those that focus on understanding the drivers of technology adoption and diffusion in developing countries, and those that examine the impacts of adoption on household welfare (Foster and Rosenzweig 2010; Abdulai and Huffman 2014; Wossen et al 2019; Huffman 2020).…”

Factors affecting Farmers' Adoption of and Willingness to Pay for Biodegradable Mulch Films in China

“…(e.g., Barham et al, 2015;Dumbrell et al, 2016;Mekonnen et al, 2020;Pannell et al, 2006;Weber, 2012). Farmers' adoption is also dependent on the types of practices and technologies, but the practice or technology itself has been under-emphasized (Pannell and Zilberman, 2020). A recent study by de Oca Munguia and Llewellyn (2020) states that more emphasis should be placed on analyzing the impact of technology characteristics in adoption analysis.…”

“…A recent study by de Oca Munguia and Llewellyn (2020) states that more emphasis should be placed on analyzing the impact of technology characteristics in adoption analysis. Additionally, when targeting developing countries, the adoption analysis needs to consider the distinctive features when analyzing farmers' adoption decision-makings (Pannell and Zilberman, 2020). For example, the majority of farms in the developing countries are small scale rather than large commercial farms (Llewellyn and Brown, 2020); the role of technologies in agricultural production is to enhance crops to further increase production and feed the poor people in developing countries (Huang et al, 2002).…”