Abstract
This paper seeks to underline the driving factors of farmers’ engagement in Participatory Research Projects (PRPs). This is a critical issue for formulating efficient and effective technology transfer channels, essential for improving the operational status of agricultural holdings. A survey was conducted on a sample of 326 Greek arable crops farmers. An explanatory framework consisting of three major factor categories and 11 variables was developed. A logistic regression analysis empirically tests the effect of the variables on the participation of farmers in PRP. Furthermore, the relative importance of variables and factors is extracted with the Shapley–Owen decomposition analysis. The results show that Farmers’ Willingness and Social Influences are the factors that mostly affect their decision to engage in a PRP. The farmers’ ability consisting of socioeconomic and demographic variables has a small effect on their decision-making process. The estimated effects can help decision-makers to shape and prioritize more targeted policies for farmers’ engagement in research. Additionally, this paper sets the basis for shifting research from simple estimations of the effect of variables on farmers’ decision-making, to a more comprehensive estimation that also accounts for the strength of these relationships. The paper fills a gap in the literature of studies on farmers’ decisions for participating in PRPs, by developing and testing an explanatory framework which also accounts for the relative importance of each factor/variable.
Highlights
The achievement of global agricultural sustainability necessitates the engagement of farmers through the constant modernization of their farms, the adoption of more efficient farming practices being supported by innovative technologies, and the improvement of their productivity [1]
Some basic factor categories remain common among the various frameworks which are mostly related to the characteristics of the farmer and the agricultural holding, the situational factors that may affect the behavior of the farmer, farmers’ personal beliefs and attitudes around some relevant issues with the topic of decision, and the perception of farmers regarding the different choices related to the decision problem at stake [15,16,24]
We described the Participatory Research Projects (PRP) as projects in which their involvement is voluntary and long-term, while it demands the contribution of farmers in physical or monetary capital terms and their active participation in the experimental design and implementation
Summary
The achievement of global agricultural sustainability necessitates the engagement of farmers through the constant modernization of their farms, the adoption of more efficient farming practices being supported by innovative technologies, and the improvement of their productivity [1]. The first category includes information flows through social interactions, both physical and digital (social media), as well as the collection of information by reading of resources such as books, journals, and websites In the latter category, the most important sources are the enrollment in educational programs, the Extension Services (ES), and the involvement in Participatory Research Projects (PRP) [4]. The most important formal source of information, especially in developing countries, is this of ES which come up with various settings and objectives across the different parts of the globe The effectiveness of these kinds of programs still remains under a heavy critique. The need for more farmers’ engaging type of extensions projects has led to the development of the so-called Participatory Extension Programs (PEP) which are taking the form of meetings over a predefined period of time, typically 1–3 years and whose targets and objectives are commonly agreed by farmers and researchers [9]
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