The Adoption of Agricultural Technology - Food Security Group

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Effective communication between researchers and policymakers is not verycommon. It will take more than a few adoption studies to establish goodlinks among researchers, extension personnel, national policymakers, andpublic interest groups. But the information from a well-conceived andeffectively presented adoption study can be very useful for improving thistype of communication._Measuringtheimpact oftechnologygenerationandtransferAnother important use of the information from adoption studies is to assessthe impact of agricultural ..esearch and extension and to measure thereturns to investments in these activities. Research and extensioninstitutions are often engaged in a battle to maintain their budgets, and thisimplies the necessity for demonstrating results. Adoption studies are animportant tool for measuring and assessing impact. They also prOVide datathat can be used to estimate the returns to investment in research orextension. Such an analysis may be used to justify further investment inthese sectors or to help identify the most productive opportunities forinvestment within research or extension.An important question on the minds of policymakers is who benefits fromnew technology. Adoption studies may be designed to document whatkinds of farmers and what areas of the country have profited most from thedevelopment of a particular technology.-4_The evaluation of impact and returns to investment is also a commonfeature of rural development projects, but these evaluations are often donewithout access to solid data on adoption. Even NGO projects need to spendmore time documenting progress and analyzing the effectiveness of theirinvestments. As more donor attention is directed to the option of NGOcontributions to agricultural change, these organizations will come underincreasing pressure to present wel\-documented evidence of theiraccomplishments.Contributingto theliterature onadoptionThere is a very large body of literature on the adoption of agriculturalinnovations (Rogers 1983; Feder, Just, and Zilberman 1985). The methodsdescribed in this manual can add to that literature, although their principalpurpose is to serve institutions involved in promoting agricultural changerather than to contribute to the theory of adoption. Many academic studieson adoption assume that the technology is appropriate and tend toconcentrate on identifying the characteristics of farmers who are likely toadopt. The kind of study described in this manual faces the more difficultchal\enge of not only describing patterns of adoption but alsounderstanding whether or not the technology and its institutionalenvironment are adequate to the needs and resources of farmers. This type
of adoption study must be done with an open mind; its purpose is not topromote a particular technology but rather to help research and extensionbe more effective in responding to farmers' needs.The follOWing chapters are concerned with adoption studies that helpdescribe, evaluate, and understand the process of technological change. Itis assumed that the principal audience for the studies will be staff ofresearch and extension institutions (public or private), and of otherinstitutions at the national level that are responsible for assessing or settingpolicies and allocating funds that determine the scope and direction ofagricultural development.Ways of Studying AdoptionThe process ofagricultural researchAlthough this manual focuses on the design and analysis of formaladoption surveys, it would be misleading to think of adoption assomething that is the subject of a Single study conducted at the end of aresearch effort. Monitoring changes in farming practices and assessing theadoption of new technology should be important elements of the entireresearch process.When a program of research or extension is being planned, it is essential toget a dear idea of what type of changes or technologies would beacceptable to farmers. Diagnostic surveys proVide information on farmers'current practices and concerns (Byerlee, Collinson, et al. 1980). To theextent that these surveys assess the distribution and rationale for farmers'present use of technology, they can be thought of as "adoption studies" forprevious technology generation efforts. Information from such surveys andfrom other sources needs to be carefully considered in planning a researchagenda (Tripp and Woolley 1989), and a growing number of techniques areavailable for imprOVing farmer and community participation in theplanning process (Farrington and Martin 1988).As research is carried out, and especially as experiments are planted infarmers' fields, it is essential to obtain continuous feedback from farmers. Itis a waste of resources to conduct several years of research on a technologyonly to discover that farmers find it unaq:eptable. There are several waysof monitoring on-farm experiments. One basic strategy is Simply to makesure that farmers are consulted when researchers or extension agents visitfield sites and that farmers' opinions are recorded and analyzed (Tripp1982). Other techniques are available for ensuring that farmers participatein the evaluation of technologies being tested. Guidelines have beendesigned to help elicit and utilize farmers' reactions to experimental-5
Page 9 and 10: I Chapter 1AdoptionStudiesWhy Study
Page 11: emphasis on participatory research
Page 15 and 16: -7some idea of the degree to which
Page 17 and 18: 80 2. tudl Used to Assess Different
Page 19 and 20: Another issue in measuring adoption
Page 21 and 22: Yt and we can estimate K (the maxim
Page 23 and 24: Measuring ImpactEarlier sections di
Page 25 and 26: -17The Role of Adoption Studies in
Page 27 and 28: Bo 3. Variable and Criteria __'_."C
Page 29 and 30: Farmers in Bumbogo, Rwanda grow bea
Page 31 and 32: -23The following graph shows the ac
Page 33 and 34: -25One valuable contribution to ass
Page 35 and 36: 80 1A study of mechanical wheat har
Page 37 and 38: Chapter 3UnderstandingAdoptionThe F
Page 39 and 40: small test of farmers' skills (for
Page 41 and 42: Wealth. Wealthier farmers may be th
Page 43 and 44: degree of adoption may depend on th
Page 45 and 46: conditions of the preceding or foll
Page 47 and 48: equired inputs, then the technology
Page 49 and 50: help in analyzing the degree to whi
Page 51 and 52: Checklist (cont'd.).....FactorBiolo
Page 53 and 54: Box 14. Gender Analysis and Adoptio
Page 55 and 56: Box 16. Labor Availability and Adop
Page 57 and 58: 80 1 te Trade-offsFarmers must ofte
Page 59 and 60: -51The adoption of technology is in
Page 61 and 62: -53Box 22. Source of Purchased Inpu
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Box 24. Knowledge of Recommendation
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services, or markets, it is importa
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- SamplingforcomparisonsTn many ins
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chosen for the survey will determin
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B. Measurements for input use may b
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2. Where did you acquire the seed?1
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Cha ter 5MethodsforAnalyzingAdoptio
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One of the simplest and most useful
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For instance, a survey may show tha
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-73Revised[Oxen ownership (A) --.t~
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RevisedThe association is tested co
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The following example is a simple l
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where b o is the constant, b}' b 2,
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variables. And a high significance
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1Decision trees are a method of rep
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ReferencesAcharya, M., and L. Benne
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Jha, D., B. Hojjati, and 5. Vosti.
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The Adoption of Agricultural Technology - Food Security Group

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