The Adoption of Agricultural Technology - Food Security Group

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The coding and analysis should begin immediately after the completion o{the survey. For an adoption survey to be useful, a report should be writtenand distributed as soon as possible.SummaryThe choice o{ sample {or an adoption study will be determined in part bythe objectives of the study. The study area needs to be defined (politicalboundaries, ecology, etc.). Farmers may be selected at random {rom thestudy area, or the sample may include farmers with particularcharacteristics. The sample size will depend on the variability of the{arming population being studied and the resources available. Decisionswill also have to be made about sampling within the {arm: are all fields tobe studied, or only particular ones?The design of questions for an adoption study should follow the rules ofsurvey design in general, with attention to clarity, specificity, and logicalordering. In an adoption study, particular care must be given to ensuringthat the questions do not bias the farmer towards positive responsesregarding the technologies being studied.The survey should be implemented as efficiently as possible, and timelyanalysis and write-up are crucial. The following chapter provides somegUidelines for analyzing the results of an adoption survey.-66
Cha ter 5MethodsforAnalyzingAdoptionPatternsThe results of an adoption survey require careful analysis andpresentation. The form and focus of the final report will depend very muchon the purpose of the study. If the purpose is only to document the degreeof adoption, then thought must be given to the factors discussed in Chapter2 regarding the definition of adoption, the best way to present the degreeof present adoption, and the necessity of analyzing historical adoptionpatterns. This type of analysis is useful for considering the rate of progressof a technology generation effort and for helping to investigate the impactof such an effort.But very often we also wish to analyze the adoption patterns and to try toexplain why a technology may be reaching certain farmers and not others.Some of the pOSSible reasons for differences in adoption were outlined inChapter 3. Explaining adoption patterns requires additional analysis,which is the subject of the present chapter.There are two principal strategies for helping us understand why farmersaccept or reject a particular technology. One is to seek the opinions andobservations of the farmers, and the second is to do a statistical comparisonof adoption behavior with the characteristics of the farm, farmer, orinstitutional environment. Both of these are valid aspects of surveyanalysis. This chapter discusses the analysis and presentation of this typeof data.Farmers' OpinionsFarmers usually know what they like and what they do not like about anew technology and are able to express their opinions. These opinions willreflect their own experience. If the adoption study encourages farmers toproVide an honest assessment and does not make them feel that thequestioning represents a test of knowledge of "modern agricul ture" or"recommended practices," then very useful information will be obtained.Open questions, such as "Do you like variety X?" or "What problems doyou find with reduced tillage?" may not be effective, however. The formaladoption study will be based on the experience of an inrormal survey(where these open questions are more appropriate), and the questionnaireshould refer more to speCific characteristics or the technology that havebeen identified. Box 25 (at the end of this chapter) shows farmers' opinionson two technologies; in one case adopters were asked to explain thereasons for using a technology, while in the second case rarmers who didnot adopt were asked to explain their choice.Farmers' decisions regarding new technology can rarely be reduced to asimple set or opinions, however. Farmers use a range of criteria in decidingwhether to change their practices, and a number or models and theories-67
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I Chapter 1AdoptionStudiesWhy Study
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emphasis on participatory research
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of adoption study must be done with
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-7some idea of the degree to which
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80 2. tudl Used to Assess Different
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Another issue in measuring adoption
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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
Page 63 and 64: Box 24. Knowledge of Recommendation
Page 65 and 66: services, or markets, it is importa
Page 67 and 68: - SamplingforcomparisonsTn many ins
Page 69 and 70: chosen for the survey will determin
Page 71 and 72: B. Measurements for input use may b
Page 73: 2. Where did you acquire the seed?1
Page 77 and 78: One of the simplest and most useful
Page 79 and 80: For instance, a survey may show tha
Page 81 and 82: -73Revised[Oxen ownership (A) --.t~
Page 83 and 84: RevisedThe association is tested co
Page 85 and 86: The following example is a simple l
Page 87 and 88: where b o is the constant, b}' b 2,
Page 89 and 90: variables. And a high significance
Page 91 and 92: 1Decision trees are a method of rep
Page 93 and 94: ReferencesAcharya, M., and L. Benne
Page 95 and 96: Jha, D., B. Hojjati, and 5. Vosti.
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