The Factors Influencing Farmers’ Adoption of Agricultural Technology Innovations in Pacitan Agricultural Technology Park, East Java, Indonesia

There are several constraints to the adoption of technologies and innovations by Australian farmers. Here an attempt has been made to define the major constraints to adoption. These are identified as: the extent to which the farmer finds the new technology complex and difficult to comprehend; how readily observable the outcomes of an adoption are; its financial cost; the farmer's beliefs and opinions towards the technology; the farmer's level of motivation; the farmer's perception of the relevance of the new technology; and the farmer's attitudes towards risk and change. The classical adoption-diffusion model and subsequent modifications are discussed. In particular, issues relating to the participatory action research (PAR) approach are raised and discussed. In addition, methodologies in extension research are briefly discussed and the roles of extension personnel and agricultural scientists in the technology adoption process are examined. The adoption of innovations in natural resource management is discussed and the findings indicate that this is an area of agriculture in which extension practice and research will play an increasingly important role in the future. Recommendations for further research into adoption of technological innovations in resource management and agriculture are made.

The innovation of Agricultural Science and Technology is the key factor in agricultural development, and agricultural technological innovation needs financial support. The current reality difficulties of lacking funds in agricultural technology transformation in China, urgently need to establish a suitable agricultural technology innovation fund, which perfect fit with the reality. This paper compared the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Agency and relevant national Fund and other development trends from the international perspective, and put forward evolutionary path of Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund (ASTIF) in China. We think they must deepen three paths for Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund in raising, supporting and regulation aspect in China.

This article sets out to survey the extent to which new agricultural technologies associated with ‘Green Revolution’ (the introduction of high yielding varieties of foodgrains and/or their associated biochemical and mechanical technologies) have been introduced in Africa and attempts a preliminary assessment of their economic and social effects. There is now significant evidence of the introduction and adoption of higher yielding varieties of maize, wheat and rice in Africa, as well as the adoption of other technological innovations in irrigation and mechanisation, albeit with widely varying degrees of success and with many instances of failure. It is noted that there are many standard technical explanations associated with the adoption of new technologies in agriculture, in particular, low levels of credit, poor supply of inputs, inadequate, faulty or no irrigation, poor extension advice, and low producer prices, as well as the poor state of the relationship between agronomic research and farm level innovation. However, the evidence so far collected for Africa suggests that a substantial part of the explanation of whether adoption of innovations takes place or not, and of their degree of success, is the nature of the social relations of production, relations not simply of class or strata, but also of gender. The major technical constraint on successful innovation adoption as revealed by most, if not all, of the studies surveyed turns out to be that of labour supply. The extent to which that constraint can be resolved turns not on increasing family labour supply, which often means increasing the intensity of female labour, but in hiring labour. The very hiring of labour presupposes the existence of a social formation in which free wage labour exists, or In which it can be created. Its creation will depend on the degree to which those interests which seek toaccumulate through agricultural innovation have power and can exercise that power through the State. The first section of this article is an overview of various issues of theory and evidence involved in surveying the green revolution in Africa. The second section surveys the introduction of these new technologies into Africa and the final section draws some conclusions for policy and further analysis.

Agricultural production in the cotton basin of Banikoara in Benin depends on the variability of rainfall, which fluctuates between 800 and 1 200 mm per annum. The income of farm households and their food security are determined by the concomitant fluctuations in cotton and food production. Agricultural diversification based on a sound understanding of the process of adoption of technical innovations has the potential to provide a consistent income, improved agricultural productivity and, in the end, a substantial improvement in the well-being of the farmers. These technical and agricultural innovations are the subject of an economic analysis of the impact of technical progress on the technical and allocative efficiency of farmers in this region. The production of “white gold” in the Banikoara basin depends heavily on the use of chemicals, rather than on biological, agronomic and mechanical interventions. However, these four forms of agricultural innovations need to be combined. In some Asian countries, for example, a more judicious combination of different forms of innovations has resulted in better yields. As yields in Banikoara are low by global standards, technological development and the implementation of new technologies present a real opportunity for improving the well-being of these cotton farmers. However, although many cotton farmers in Banikoara understand that agricultural innovations could help to overcome the challenge of food security, the real question is how to give the cotton producers access to the right technical and agricultural innovations. To this end, this article attempts to describe the levels of adoption of technical and agricultural innovations by the farmers and then to explain the options available to them in order to clarify the mechanisms for sustainable management of cotton production in the Banikoara basin. In total, 1 000 cotton producers were interviewed during the harvest and post-harvest period from October 2010 to September 2012. Some 75% (750 farmers) of the collected responses were found to be reliable. The results show that farmers differ widely in their attitude to the adoption of innovations. A total of 64% of the cotton farmers were not sure about the impact of these innovations on their agricultural efforts, while 32% considered this impact as weak and insufficient. These results can be explained by a delay in decision making in the adoption of agricultural and technical innovations, the lack of information about the benefits of these, the non-reliability of previous results in other specific cases, and the conservative spirit of the endogenous cultural practices. Only 3,2% of farmers perceived these innovations to their right value, while the proportion of cotton producers who were totally in favour of the implementation of these innovations represents only 1,2% of all the farms. Generally speaking, the factors that prevent the adoption and diffusion of new innovations are sociodemographic, economic or institutional in nature. For example, on top of the real risks and uncertainties that threaten agricultural production in the basin there also is the ageing of the farmers and the weak level of education, which makes it difficult for them to adopt the technical innovations. This is reflected in the absence of modern technology. It also is essential that the government should implement specific programmes for the intensification of the technical training of farmers and that farmers should be grouped by means of cooperatives. These two factors would lead to a higher and better perception of the benefits of adopting technical and agricultural innovations not only for cotton, but also for other agricultural production.

Firms initially offer new technology‐based services to a limited number of customers to reduce risks and maximize their returns on the investments in the new technology. Consequently, consumers’ adoption of new technology‐based services is restricted by the limited access provided by the businesses. A model of consumer adoption was developed and estimated via a two‐step procedure. A significant sample selection bias was found with regard to access when estimating consumer adoption of a relatively new innovation, computer banking, but no such bias was found for a mature innovation, ATMs.

This research details efforts to analyze the adoption and diffusion of agricultural technology innovations through the Integrated Participatory Development Management of Irrigation Program (IPDMIP) Field School Program in Kedungreja District, Cilacap Regency. In the background, the urgency of agriculture as the primary sector in development is illustrated, with technology adoption being the key to increasing productivity and farmer welfare. The IPDMIP program emphasizes the involvement of farmers in irrigation management and implementing modern technology to optimize agricultural yields. However, there has not been much in-depth research on the factors that influence the successful adoption and diffusion of technological innovations in the context of this program. This research aims to identify the factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of agricultural technology innovations in the IPDMIP Field School while measuring the adoption and diffusion of these innovations in the Kedungreja District. The quantitative research method uses a survey approach and statistical data analysis. The research instrument includes variables such as cultivated area, farmer age, education level, innovation characteristics, characteristics of potential users, decision-making, communication channels, and instructor qualifications. Data was collected from 100 respondents who were members of farmer groups receiving IPDMIP Field School activities through questionnaires. Data analysis shows that the IPDMIP Field School Program effectively increases the adoption and diffusion of agricultural technology innovations in the Kedungreja District. Factors such as farmer age, characteristics of the innovation, characteristics of potential users, and communication channels play a significant role in the successful adoption and diffusion of the innovation. The research results provide an in-depth picture of the effectiveness of this program in bringing positive change among farmers. This conclusion can be a basis for formulating further policies to support sustainable agricultural development and improve farmer welfare.

This paper reviews various studies which have provided a description and possible explanation to patterns of innovation adoption in the agricultural sector. The survey points out that the tendency of many studies to consider innovation adoption in dichotomous terms (adoption/nonadoption) may not be appropriate in many cases where the actual decisions are defined over a more continuous range. More attention needs to be given to the socio-cultural and institutional environment in area studies so that their interrelation with economic factors affecting adoption can be inferred. The presence of several interrelated innovations is another aspect that needs to be considered more carefully in future research, since a number of simultaneous decisions may be involved. Furthermore, the possibility of regular sequential patterns in adopting components of a new technological package should be specifically addressed in future studies. Finally, the impact of differential adoption rates on land holding distribution merits attention in future research.

The motivation for this study builds on the rapid changes in the business environment that have led companies to include innovation as one of the strategies for productivity growth, competitiveness, and sustainability. The objective of this work is to analyze the interaction and complementarity between technological innovation practices and non-technological innovation used by companies. The methodology used by the paper is a Bivariate Probit model applied to micro-data from 1897 firms in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal. The effect of the adoption of a technological innovation on a non-technological innovation practice is estimated by conditional probabilities using two-dimensional normal distributions. The results show strong significant correlations between the various innovation practices within the firm with important complementarity effects between them. This complementarity is the proof that the adoption of a technological innovation practice leads to the initiation of another non-technological innovative activity and vice versa for a better performance of the firm’s activities. These complementarity effects between the different types of innovations are heterogeneous according to the sector of activity, which suggests that innovation policies should be specific to each sector. The originality of the study is premised on the use of both technological and non-technological dimensions of innovation in the assessment of how innovations affect manufacturing and service firms in Africa.

Major problems of agricultural technological innovation in China were summarized as below: first, poor agricultural science and technology system; second, deficient technological promotion system; third, shortage of agricultural professionals; fourth, serious shortage of science and technology input. In view of these problems, the following suggestions were given to improve the innovation of agricultural technology in China. (1) Restructuring agricultural research institutes, establishing cooperative innovation centers, improving agricultural technological innovation system; (2) Specifying the direction of research projects, improving scientific research level of technicians, so as to improve the agricultural technological innovation capacity; (3) Improving promotion and service stations in towns, organizing technological service teams of agricultural universities and colleges, establishing agricultural technological promotion systems; (4) Increasing input in agricultural technological innovation by attracting government input, enterprise investment and other financial support; (5) Cultivating more talents of agricultural technology, training leading agricultural technicians, grassroots agricultural service staff and practical talents.

Based on the perspective of the value chain of agricultural science and technology innovation, in this paper, we divided the process of agricultural science and technology innovation into two stages: the Research and Development (R&D) of agricultural technology and the application of agricultural technology. We took the efficiency of agricultural science and technology innovation of the two stages as a comprehensive index measure for the development of agricultural science and technology innovation in China. On this basis, we used social network analysis to establish a two-stage spatial correlation network for the innovation development of agricultural science and technology in China. The spatial-temporal evolution trends, structural characteristics, and influencing factors of the network were analyzed from the three aspects of the overall, local, and individual network structure. The results show that: a. The development of agricultural science and technology innovation in China demonstrated a clear spatial correlation and spillover effect, and the spatial correlation network was in a connected state. b. The network had the distribution characteristics of ‘core-edge’ and strong stability, and the hierarchical structure of the members of each province in the network was gradually broken. c. The differences at the market level in agricultural science and technology, the differences in government support for agriculture, the geographically adjacent relationships, and the level of agricultural economic development were important factors affecting the spatial correlation of agricultural science and technology innovation. This study provides a policy reference to use a cross-regional coordinated development mechanism to solve the uneven and asymmetry problem of the distribution of elements in various regions in China.

Nganjuk Regency is one of the highest red onion producers in East Java, but its productivity is not followed by a commensurate productivity yet. One of the causes is the attack of plant-disturbing organisms and chemical pesticides which are often the most effective way. Adoption of technological innovations for planting Refugia plants is an alternative in overcoming problems. Several roles of actors are needed to communicate with each other regarding this matter. This study aims to: 1) Analyze the communication network of farmers adopting technological innovations; (2) Analyzing the effect of farmers' characteristics and farming on the communication network; (3) Analyzing the effect of farmer communication networks on the adoption of technological innovations. The method used is a sociogram to determine the distribution of information on farmer groups and related parties. To determine the effect of the characteristics of farmers and farming on communication networks and the effect of communication networks on the adoption of technological innovations using regression analysis. The results of the study show that there is a role in the communication network, namely the head of each farmer group as opinion leader, active and dominant farmers as bridges and farmers who have other main jobs as isolated. Characteristics of farmers and farming have a significant effect on the communication network, so that it has a positive impact on the dissemination of information. The communication network also has a significant effect on the adoption of technological innovations so that the process of using the adoption of refugia plant innovations on red onion plants can be carried out because of the openness of farmers to existing information

PurposeThis work analyses how the adoption of technological innovations correlates with workers' perceived levels of job insecurity, and what factors moderate such relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe study makes use of the 2018 wave of the Participation, Labour, Unemployment Survey (PLUS) from Inapp. The richness of the survey and the representativeness of the underlying sample (including 13,837 employed workers) allow employing various empirical specifications where it is possible to control and moderate for many socio-demographic features of the worker, including her occupation and industry of employment, thereby accounting for various potential confounding factors.FindingsThe results of this ordered logit estimations show that workers' perception of job insecurity is affected by many subjective, firm-related and even macroeconomic factors. This study demonstrates that the adoption of technological innovations by companies is associated with lower levels of job insecurity perceived by their workers. In fact, the adoption of technological innovations by a company is perceived by surviving workers (those who remain in the same firm even after the introduction of such innovations) as a signal of the firm's health and its commitment to preserving the activity. Individual- and occupation-specific moderating factors play a limited role.Originality/valueThis study estimates how perceived job insecurity relates to the technological innovations adopted by the firms in which the interviewees are employed rather than analyzing their general concerns about job insecurity. In addition, this study identifies different types of innovations, such as product and process innovation, automation and other types of innovations.

Electric Vehicle (EV) Technology is part of sustainable energy initiatve and can be a solutin for the efforts of overcoming the gasoline scarcity. The presence of this technology has started to change the map of the garage shop business and also the educational communication system, as having been found in the learning ompetencies of Light Automotive Vehicle Engineering and Motorcycle Business Enginering on the State Vocational High School 7 located in the Regency of Tangerang. Although the educational communication has been termed as instructional communication, it is difficult for the teachers to approach the students so that the students are able to adopt and embrace the EV innovation. Therefore, through the present quantitative study, the influence of the teachers’ approaching obstacle on the adoption of the electric technology innovation among the State Vocational High School 7 located in the Regency of Tangerang is measured by using the Theory of Information Dissemination (Adoption of Innovation) by Everett Rogers and the Model of Group Interaction (Robert Bales) with 123 respondents as the participants in the study. During the study, the variables were measured by using the Likert Scale Technique and, at the same time, the validity test was performed by using the Product Moment Correlation. Furthermore, the reliability test were performed by using the Cronbach’s Alpha Formula with the assistance from SPSS 24. Last but not the least, the inter-variable correlation test was performed by using the multiple linear regression whle the F-test, the t-test, and the normality test were performed by using the Shapiro Formula. The results of the study show that : (1) the type and the quantity of the approach implemented by the teachers within the study have significant influence on the adoption of electric vehicle technology innovation among the students of State Vocational High School 7; (2) the type and the quantity from the influence of the teachers’ approaching obstacle on the adoption of electric technology innovation among the students of State Vocational High School 7 has ranged from significantly influential until not influential; and (3) there are various model of teachers’ approaching that have been implemented in dealing with the obstacles on the adoption of the electric vehicle technology innovation among the State Vocational High School 7s.

A study was done on agricultural enterprises technology innovation based on the management bionics method. From the perspective of bionics, this study investigates influence factors, mechanisms and team building of agricultural enterprises technology innovation based on the scientific and normative analysis of management bionics. Through standardized management bionic analogy analysis, the following analogies were drawn: agricultural enterprises technology innovation influence factors and the onion biological form, agricultural enterprises technology innovation mechanism and the biological enzyme catalytic reaction mechanism, agricultural enterprises technology innovation team building with the bee biological group effect. Therefore, three bionic element models of agricultural enterprises technology innovation were built, namely agricultural enterprises technology innovation onion model, technology innovation enzyme catalytic reaction bionic model and the bees’ team effect bionic model. This study ends with the corresponding bionic strategies and suggestions about agricultural enterprises technology innovation, which may provide references for the development of agricultural enterprises technology innovation in China. At the same time, this study also enriches the research range and theoretical system of management bionics.

The agricultural industry is confronted with the need of increasing the production to feed a growing population, and contemporarily to manage the decreased availability of natural resources. This major challenge boosts agriculture sector to adopt new approaches and technical innovations; anyway, the adoption of innovations in agriculture is not immediate, due to the interaction of many drivers that impact on individuals and enterprises’ decisions. This paper aims at providing a list of drivers for the adoption of technological innovations in agriculture, on the basis of the outcomes of in-depth interviews and focus groups performed in three European countries (Italy, Greece, Turkey). With specific reference to innovations, ease of use, effectiveness, usefulness, resource savings, and compatibility were mentioned as relevant features for an innovation to be adopted. Trials, demonstrations, experience and knowledge sharing, and support from qualified third parties were included among the facilitating factors for conveying and promoting innovations. Finally, public funding, agricultural policies and market conditions were identified as factors that may tip the balance in the process of innovations’ adoption.