Abstract
Diffusion studies in sub-Saharan Africa have typically focused on the impact of traditional adoption factors on uptake of technological innovations. This study draws on semi-structured interviews of rural farmers and in-depth interviews of stakeholders in southwest Nigeria to examine the impact of institutional factors on the success of technological innovations. The findings indicate that government policies, markets, financial institutions, infrastructure and other institutional conditions play significant role on the success of technological innovations. A successful innovation package should integrate institutional reforms with promotion of innovative inputs, and vibrant farmers’ cooperatives can be at the heart of such agrarian reform.
Highlights
Innovation is often conceived purely or mainly in terms of development and diffusion of new technologies for improved productivity and development
A more comprehensive conception of innovation incorporates technological aspects – new products and services, as well as non-technological aspects, like institutional and organisational innovations (Ruttan 2001, Fan, et al 2009, Doner 2010). Both of these aspects are essential for the success of innovations in the context of national development, and should command adequate attention of diffusion researchers, policy makers and other organisation involved in the development and execution of development intervention programmes
It has been observed that that new agricultural technologies offer potential benefits in terms of increased produc- tivity and profit for farmers, but, more often than not in developing countries, these innovations are not taken up quickly enough or widely enough to ensure the realisation of full benefits
Summary
Innovation is often conceived purely or mainly in terms of development and diffusion of new technologies for improved productivity and development. The success of the innovations is defined with respect to two key criteria: 1) their effectiveness in improving agricultural productivity, in terms of quantity and quality of farm outputs; 2) their function in terms of improving profit and income of farmers. Both of these criteria define the impact of innovations on the nation’s food security and rural development. With respect to the impact of economic constraints on small-scale farmers in developing countries, there is significant attention in the literature on the influence of household wealth (Langyintuo and Mungoma 2008, Marenya and Barnet 2007), cost constraints associated with availability of labour (White et al 2005), extra cost associated with technologies that require purchased external outputs (Moser and Barrett 2003), and the impact of non-farm income (Langyintuo and Mungoma 2008, Marenya and Barrett 2007)
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