Agricultural Technology Adoption Research Articles

The Impact of Being Surveyed on the Adoption of Agricultural Technology

This paper uses exogenous variation in the probability of being surveyed at baseline to estimate the impact of being surveyed on subsistence farmers’ take-up of a new agricultural technology that improves food safety. I find large and statistically significant impacts of being surveyed and that an experimental treatment effect disappears for surveyed farmers. My results have strong implications for our understanding of the process of technology adoption, for the external validity of adoption results measured in surveyed populations, and for research ethics.

Challenges in Food Security While Strengthening Inclusive Development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

This study evaluates the current level of food security in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh from the perspective of sustainable development and suggests ways to overcome the challenges identified. Acute poverty is frequent in such far-flung places of CHT, and food insecurity affects some regions there. Maintaining reliable access to nutritious food is crucial to achieving the aforementioned goals. Equality of opportunity necessitates harmony in human interactions and the natural world. Household food security is profoundly influenced by factors such as land ownership, population demographics, employment, and agricultural goods. Some cultures engage in the practice of shifting farming, despite warnings about the negative effects on the environment. Moreover, in some of the most outlying CHT districts, concerns about food security have been exacerbated by issues such as property ownership, education, and distance from the market. The existing food insecurity situation in CHT may be improved by the implementation of all required communication development, adoption of agricultural technologies, and revenue production. Keywords: Food Insecurity, Communication Network, Diversification, and Inclusive Development. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/14-5-02 Publication date: March 31 st 2023

Review on Adoption of Improved Soya Bean Technologies: Empirical Evidence from Ethiopia

Soybean is a legume crop grown in the tropical, subtropical, and temperate climates which are used for food and animal feed. However, the production and productivity of soybean is low and improvement in production and productivity depends on the extent to which a household has applied the recommended production technologies. The review was aimed to identify the determinants of adoption and intensity of improved soybean varieties to generate information that helps to understand and evaluate the key challenges in Ethiopia. The review showed that sex of household, age of household head, education, farm experience, participation in training, and extension service affect the adoption of improved soya bean varieties positively and significantly while the distance to the nearest market affects adoption of improved soya bean varieties negatively and significantly. On the other hand, the intensity of adoption was affected by age, soya bean farm experience, participation in training, and size of livestock holding. Most of the studies reviewed in this paper indicated that sex has a significant positive impact on the adoption of improved soya bean varieties. However, the participation of female households in the adoption process indicated that 15% of female-headed households and dominated by 85% of male household heads. Therefore, to improve the adoption of modern agricultural technologies like improved soya beans the following recommendations are forwarded. Female-headed households should get emphasis in all activities of the promotion of new technologies. On the other hand, evidences showed that the huge oil factories in Ethiopia like W. A and BK are using soya bean as a major input to their production. Consequently, those industries demanding a higher amount of soya bean as an input and they are creating a backward linkage to smallholder soya bean producer farmers. For instance, W.A's edible oil factory alone needs 20,000 hectares of land to run the business and 500,000 quintals of soya bean requires per year. Therefore, it can improve smallholder farmers' livelihood by creating market opportunities to supply their products directly to factories. Thus, the promotion of new soya bean varieties, strong linkage between farmers and factories and comprehensive studies on the adoption and impact of soya bean should get attention from the regional and federal government of Ethiopia. Keywords: Adoption; Determinate, improved soya bean; Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/14-6-01 Publication date: April 30 th 2023

Estimating impact of technological adoption in farming in Bihar: a propensity score matching approach

PurposeIn the developing world, the adoption of new technology in agriculture has emerged as a tool to address the problem of investment-disincentive effect of capital investment on smallholders. In Indian agriculture, which is dominated by smallholders, technological adoption becomes very essential. In this regard, along with the government, local level organizations also provide training and other support to adopt the new agricultural technique. The present study is an attempt to assess the counterfactual impact of this sort of initiative in the context of Bihar, a state in India.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses field survey data which are collected from the Gaya district of Bihar. Overall, 249 sample farmers are surveyed from 23 villages of four blocks of the Gaya district. There are two groups of selected farmers: treatment and control groups. Farmers who adopted the new technique belong to the treatment group, and otherwise, the control group. For analytical purpose, a propensity score matching method has been used to estimate the counterfactual impact of the adoption of the new technique of farming on farmers' agricultural income.FindingsThe study observes a significant improvement in the agricultural income of the farmers who adopted the new technique. New agricultural techniques, propagated through the local level organization, might be instrumental to enhance farmer's skill as well as income.Research limitations/implicationsThis type of approach may be adopted, complementary to the government's extension initiative to enhance farmers' income through adoption of the advanced farming process, as well as to improve the human capital of agriculture production.Originality/valueThe study laid a framework of assessing the counterfactual impact of intervention of local level organization and adoption of new farming techniques in the context of Bihar, India.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2022-0606

Analysis of Old Trends in Indian Wine-Making and Need of Expert System in Wine-Making

Abstract: Agriculture provides a living for the vast majority of Indians, either directly or indirectly. Some have an immediate connection to farming, while others are involved in the commercialization of agricultural products. The poor rate of agricultural productivity in India can be attributed to a number of factors, including a lack of socioeconomic growth, illiteracy, ineffective funding for farm output, and a lack of facilities for the sales and marketing of agricultural goods. There has not yet been widespread adoption of contemporary agricultural technology and modern farm equipment in the agricultural sector. In India, several different varieties of fruit are grown for the purpose of being sold commercially. The grape is a fruit that is essential to the production of many types of wine. There is evidence that winemaking dates back thousands of years. The production of wine is a completely natural process that requires almost no human involvement. The process of manufacturing wine consists of five primary components or steps: harvesting, crushing and pressing the grapes, fermentation, clarifying, maturing and bottling the finished product. The production of wines of high quality utilizing the ingredients listed above has given rise to a number of distinct trends in winemaking. The purpose of this essay is to investigate many antiquated practices that were a part of the winemaking process in India and how they influenced wine production. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of both established practices and emerging tendencies in the winemaking business

How crop insurance influences agrochemical input use: Evidence from cotton farmers in China

AbstractCrop insurance is critical in risk management in global agricultural production (e.g. by helping stabilise farmers' incomes in the long term and reducing risk‐bearing costs). In this paper, using field survey data on cotton farmers in Xinjiang, China, we examine the influence of crop insurance on farmers' behaviours regarding agrochemical inputs and aim to investigate the synergy between crop insurance and reductions in fertiliser and pesticide usage. We find evidence that crop insurance significantly negatively affects farmers' use of fertilisers and pesticides, as well as significantly positively affects their adoption of green agricultural technologies (GAT) that can replace or complement traditional fertilisers and pesticides. Moreover, our results reveal that compared with small‐scale farmers, crop insurance has a stronger effect on large‐scale farmers' use of agrochemicals. Finally, when the insured amount is higher or the relative deductible is lower, farmers are more likely to reduce fertiliser and pesticide usage and adopt GAT. Overall, this paper scientifically identifies crop insurance can improve farmers' agrochemical input behaviour, by reducing farmers' use of traditional agrochemical inputs and increasing their adoption of GAT, which is of great significance for ensuring the safety of the agricultural ecological environment.

Barriers and enablers for engagement in a new aquaculture activity: An example from seaweed initiatives in Samoa

Adoption of any new agriculture or aquaculture technology by intended beneficiary farmers is not a simple process. Typically, new technologies and new activities have been delivered to farmers through a ‘technology-push’, designed and supported by governments, non-government organisations and donor community, yet rates of adoption are disappointingly low. In this paper we set out to explore barriers and enablers for engagement in a new aquaculture activity, as perceived by the intended farmers. Our example is of ‘technology-push’ towards seaweed farming in coastal villages in Samoa. To increase the likelihood of greater adoption in the future, we explored perceptions of the intended beneficiaries by conducting 20 focus group discussions with 135 women and men, in 10 villages. Specifically, we explored their perceptions of seaweed as an industry, as well as perceptions of barriers and enablers linked to the key market system components: core production functions (inputs and outputs); supporting functions (such as transport, finance, training); institutional barriers; and personal agency. We found that a set of inputs seen as ‘essential’ was much broader than inputs suggested in market systems studies. Essential inputs included not only materials, tools, equipment and labour, but also extended to include information, knowledge and skills; farm governance and protection of the farms; personal agency; and environmental context. What emerged from our data is a clear division of what participants saw as solutions that can be resolved by them (such as arranging informal institutions) versus solutions that need to be provided externally (such as tools, skills, financing and markets) for which the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries was seen as the key external provider. We suggest that, when introducing new activities or technologies, adequate time and effort needs to be put into (a) finding out what essential inputs for the potential beneficiaries of the activity are; and (b) providing them with such inputs in pre-planned manner.

How Does Trust Influence Farmers’ Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption? Evidence from Rural Southwest, China

Carbon emission reduction in agriculture is an important link to achieving green agricultural development and a rural ecological environment, and Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology (LCAT) of farmers is an important means to achieve carbon emission reduction in agriculture. Based on data obtained from a survey of 540 farmers in Sichuan province in 2021, the Tobit model was used to empirically analyze the effect of trust on farmers’ LCAT adoption. The results show that (1) the trust level of farmers is high and the order is special trust > institutional trust > general trust. At the same time, the intensity of adoption of LCAT by farmers is not high, and the average number of LCAT adopted by each family is 1.13. Among them, straw-returning technology was adopted to a high degree, with 54.63% of farmers using it. (2) Farmers’ trust significantly enhances farmers’ LCAT adoption behavior, and the magnitude of the effect is characterized by specific trust > general trust > institutional trust chain. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the influence of farmers’ specific trust and institutional trust in plain areas on the intensity of LCAT adoption is stronger than that of farmers in non-plain areas, and the influence of general trust of farmers in non-plain areas on the intensity of LCAT adoption is stronger than that of farmers in plain areas. The impact of specific trust, general trust, and institutional trust on LCAT adoption was stronger for the new generation of farmers than for the older generation of farmers. (4) Herding effect plays a mediating role in special trust, institutional trust, and LCAT adoption. This study can deepen our understanding of the relationship between farmers’ trust and LCAT adoption behavior, and then provide theoretical reference and practical basis for the promotion of LCAT and the improvement of farmers’ LCAT adoption level from the perspective of trust.

Influencing Factors on Adoption of Modern Agricultural Technology in Developing Economy Countries

The adoption of advanced agricultural technologies is crucial in reducing poverty and improving food security on the developing economy countries. Despite the recognition of its importance, smallholder farmers in developing nations often face obstacles in adopting new technologies, leading to slow uptake. To better understand the factors that impact the use of agricultural technology in these nations, this study seeks to provide insights through a review of previous research on technology adoption. The results of the study highlight several key elements that determine whether or not agricultural technology is adopted, including factors related to the technology itself, the economic situation of farmers, the institutional and organizational affiliations of the farmers, and unique household factors. In order to fully comprehend the complexities involved in the adoption of agricultural technology, future research is recommended to include the perspectives and experiences of farmers. By considering their perceptions of new technologies, the range of factors influencing. The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in adopting new technologies and to identify opportunities for improvement. By considering their perceptions of new technologies, the range of factors influencing technology adoption can be broadened, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. Keywords: Agricultural Technology, smallholder farmers, Adoption, developing economy countries, economic situations, household situations. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/13-2-01 Publication date: February 28 th 2023

Practice insights for the responsible adoption of smart farming technologies using a participatory technology assessment approach: The case of virtual herding technology in Australia

CONTEXTThe concept of responsible innovation is gaining traction in the Smart Farming field to address emerging socio-ethical issues such as power asymmetries between farmers and technology development companies in farm data ownership, and animal welfare issues arising from the automation of livestock management. Responsible innovation involves the democratisation of science and decision making for societal control of innovations. The application of responsible innovation principles to the adoption phase of Smart Farming technologies is an under explored area in terms of defining what responsible adoption practices are for Smart Farming, and with what effect. OBJECTIVEThis empirical research aims to provide insights into what responsible adoption practices might involve, based on application of a responsible innovation approach to designing a cross-industry adoption strategy for a virtual fencing technology in Australia. This case study also examines what responsible adoption practices mean for enacting responsible innovation of Smart Farming technologies more broadly. METHODSA participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) approach engaged a range of virtual fencing technology end-users (livestock producers) and stakeholders (agricultural advisers, natural resource managers, food retailers, a food processor, and state government department staff) (n = 80). The participants identified and considered the benefits and risks of implementing a specific virtual fencing product in various contexts. The engagement methods were 12 interactive workshops organized in peer/sector groups and one reflective and deliberative consultation process with 13 adoption specialists and practitioners to define an adoption pathway for virtual herding technology. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe adoption of the virtual herding technology product requires multiple levels of support to ensure that the technology is used responsibly and generates private, industry and public goods. This prospective knowledge, built from the considerations of end-users and stakeholders, was integrated into a virtual herding adoption strategy, and accounted for animal welfare concerns, the empowerment of producers to lead their own adoption support network and the desire for some form of regulatory governance. The responsible adoption practices were limited by the lack of institutional pathways to mobilise the strategy beyond the life of the research project. SIGNIFICANCEThe research indicates that there is value in further pursuing the notion of responsible adoption practices for Smart Farming technologies. These practices need to be designed for understanding the complexity of the adoption situation, testing the assumptions about what the ‘right’ adoption pathway should be, and inclusive participation in the ongoing governance of adoption pathways.

Do Not Be Anticlimactic: Farmers’ Behavior in the Sustainable Application of Green Agricultural Technology—A Perceived Value and Government Support Perspective

The production mode of “high input, high yield and high waste” in the agricultural system poses a serious threat to the environment and the quality of agricultural products. Accelerating the adoption of green agricultural technology (GAT) by farmers is an emergency measure. However, according to microsurvey data, many farmers give up GAT within a year after adopting it. The implementation of this measure has been anticlimactic. Based on a survey of 1138 kiwi growers in Shaanxi Province, China, this paper builds a theoretical model and conducts empirical exercises to gain insight into the effects of perceived value, government support and their interaction with kiwi growers’ sustainable application of GAT. We find that perceived value and government support have a significant impact on the sustainable application of GAT. Government support plays a moderating role in the influence of perceived value on the sustainable application of GAT. Furthermore, in order to overcome the potential endogeneity problem caused by the two-way causal relationship between subjective variables, “owning a smartphone” was selected as the instrumental variable. The 2SLS model was used for endogeneity analysis, and the OLS model was used for the robustness test. This paper discusses the relevant theories and policy implications of environmental management.

Impact of agricultural production outsourcing service and land fragmentation on agricultural non-point source pollution in China: Evidence from Jiangxi Province

Agricultural production outsourcing service (APOS) are developing rapidly in China. In-depth research on whether the development of agricultural production outsourcing service can reduce agricultural non-point source pollution (ANSP) and the influencing mechanisms is still lacking. This study analyze the underlying mechanisms and empirically estimate the impact of agricultural production outsourcing service on agricultural non-point source pollution, explore the effect of land fragmentation on the relationship between them, and further empirically test these relationships with microsurvey data on farmers in China. The results reveal that agricultural production outsourcing service are negatively correlated with excess nitrogen and chemical fertilizer input. Agricultural production outsourcing service use can reduce excess nitrogen and an increase in the number of plots of land leads to an increase in excess nitrogen, and lower the negative effect of agricultural production outsourcing service on excess nitrogen. Agricultural production outsourcing service affect excess nitrogen by reducing farmers’ input of chemical fertilizers and increasing their adoption of green agricultural production technology. In the future, China should vigorously promote the development of agricultural production outsourcing service organizations, improve the standardization of outsourcing services to expand the scale of agricultural production outsourcing service. The government should also strengthen policy support for the construction of field roads, water conservation and irrigation, and should strive to centrally manage scattered land. It is necessary to encourage small-scale farmers to outsource agricultural production activities to the service organizations, thus reducing the negative effect of land fragmentation and increasing the positive effect of agricultural production outsourcing service in reducing agricultural non-point source pollution.

The Credit Accessibility and Adoption of New Agricultural Inputs Nexus: Assessing the Role of Financial Institutions in Sudan

Many studies have shown that credit is crucial for the adoption of new agricultural inputs and technologies in developing countries. Hence, the issue about how financial institutions select farmer applicants to give loans to is very important. We used primary data from 401 rural households to show what kinds of farmers can get credit from banks in Sudan. The probit model is used to examine the factors that determine both farmers’ access to credit and the adoption of new inputs, and to show the nexus of credit accessibility and the adoption of new input through other factors. The main findings show that farming experience, the number of close friends, hire labor, cultivated land, irrigation, and extension services, are the factors that significantly determine farmers’ credit accessibility from banks. Some of these determinants, such as cultivated land and irrigation, also influence the adoption of new inputs. There exists a strong correlation between credit accessibility from banks and the possibility of using new input. In addition, an IV probit model shows that farmers’ use of chemical fertilizers and improved varieties directly influences the loan decision from banks. This means farmers’ credit demand induced by the chance of using new input actually has been satisfied by the banks in Sudan. The comparison results show that, for the subsample, for the Farmer’s Commercial Bank (FCB) the nexus between credit accessibility and the adoption of new inputs is stronger than that of the Agricultural Bank of Sudan (ABS). Therefore, this study recommended that the Sudan government should choose FCB as the lender of subsidized credit to increase the banks’ contribution to the development of plant production.

Comparative Study of the Agro-Innovation Adoption among Members and Non-Members of Agricultural Cooperatives in Nigeria

This study compares the level of awareness and adoption of innovative agricultural technologies among members and non-members of cooperative societies. This is to direct policies on the diffusion and adoption of agricultural technologies to facilitate increased food production as Nigeria’s economy strives for post-COVID-19 survival and recovery. A multistage technique was used to select a sample of 320 constituting 160 cooperative members and 160 non-cooperative members. Structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data, which was then analysed using both descriptive (Mean, standard deviation) and inferential (regression, ANOVA) statistics. The results suggest that awareness and adoption of new agricultural technologies are higher among members of cooperatives compared to non-members. This study advocates that cooperative societies are veritable vehicles for innovation diffusion. Some challenges of the farmers were explored, and the study recommended that new technologies should be introduced through cooperatives using Small Plots Adoption trial (SPAT) and increased deployment of extension workers to farmers. Furthermore, Cooperative farmers and non-cooperative farmers should be persuaded by the extension workers in ADP to attend agricultural exhibitions where the farm outputs of new technologies are displayed together with the outputs of the old technologies so that they can see the obvious difference and adopt the new technologies.

Role of Social Media in Technology Adoption for Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Evidence from Twitter Analytics

Social networking sites provide a new means of communication for disseminating cutting-edge agricultural technologies. These are unmediated interaction channels that enable a user to communicate their experience with technology and generate negative or positive attitudes that impact technology adoption decisions. We employ a machine learning approach to analyse users' existing semantic predisposition for technology adoption in agriculture at various operational levels. While developing attitudes toward technology adoption, these semantic tendencies become an important aspect of users' cognitive decision making. The study scrapes user comments and conversations about agritech on Twitter through data mining. The research also explains the important characteristics that enhance attitude building on Twitter and are responsible for reinforcing decision making among information seekers using four machine learning models. Based on the results, the research recommends strategies to managers for better communication with agriculturists and enhancement of users' decision making.

Agricultural technology adoption and rural poverty in Ethiopia

Agricultural technology adoption and rural poverty in Ethiopia

Agricultural technology adoption and rural poverty in Ethiopia

Agricultural technology adoption and rural poverty in Ethiopia

ANALYSIS OF PROFITABILITY AND CUCUMBER PRODUCTIVITY AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS

In the tropics, cucumber is a popular vegetable to grow; and as such it becomes imperative to evaluate the levels of farm productivity, given that agricultural productivity has a linear relationship with overall farm profitability. Therefore, this study analyzed profitability and cucumber productivity among smallholders in Jos-South, Plateau State, Nigeria. For this study, 115 respondents were selected using a multistage sampling method. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, farm budgeting and total factor productivity techniques. The estimated gross and net farm incomes were respectively ₦204,000 and ₦95,200 per hectare; indicating a venture that has the potential to improve economic prospects and is relatively profitable. Additionally, the benefit-cost ratio and profit margin were estimated to be 0.88 and 46.7%, respectively. In addition, the majority of cucumber farmers (51.3%), whose TFP indices were below the optimal scale, were producing sub-optimally; due to an inefficient mix of inputs and the high cost of factors of production. Further, the following were barriers to cucumber production in the area under study: inadequate capital (93.9%); inadequate input supply (78.2%); labour cost (75.7%); limited access to microcredit (70.6%); lack of improved technology (67.8%); limited extension contact (53.9%); fragmented farm holdings (50.4%); and pest and disease outbreaks (43.5%). Therefore, this study recommends improved access to agricultural credit and farm capital; improved cooperative activities, input supply and subsidies, policy modifications, development and adoption of agricultural production technology, improved extension service delivery and farmer sensitization.

Assessing the Adoption of Climate Resilient Agricultural Technologies by the Farmers of Telangana State

In agriculture sector, the effect of climate change seems to have become inevitable during the last few decades. Hence, the technologies for climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) are probably the best adaptation solutions currently available to improve the resilience of agriculture. The study to access the extent of adoption of CRA technologies by the farmers in the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project implemented villages of Suryapet and Khammam districts in Telangana state was conducted during 2021-22. Total 200 farmers from these two districts were selected randomly to evaluate the adoption status of recommended CRA technologies and its association with the respondents’ profile characteristics. The respondents had adopted CRA technologies at medium to high levels with the majority of beneficiaries adopting technologies like deep ploughing, in-situ moisture conservation technologies in cotton and red gram, crop diversification from paddy to jowar and vegetables as a contingent crop, improved variety of paddy Siddhi WGL-44 and improved backyard poultry breeds. The profile characteristics viz., education, annual income, land holding, individual and mass media exposure, economic motivation, risk-taking ability, and innovative proneness had a positive and significant association with the extent of adoption of CRA technologies.

Contextual realities and poverty traps: why South Asian smallholder farmers negatively evaluate conservation agriculture

Abstract Conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification (CASI) is gaining prominence as an agricultural pathway to poverty reduction and enhancement of sustainable food systems among government and development actors in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of South Asia. Despite substantial investment in research and extension programs and a growing understanding of the agronomic, economic and labor-saving benefits of CASI, uptake remains limited. This study explores farmer experiences and perspectives to establish why farmers choose not to implement CASI systems despite a strong body of recent scientific evidence establishing the benefits of them doing so. Through thematic coding of semi-structured interviews, key constraints are identified, which establishes a narrative that current households' resources are insufficient to enable practice change, alongside limited supporting structures for resource supplementation. Such issues create a dependency on subsidies and outside support, a situation that is likely to impact any farming system change given the low-risk profiles of farmers and their limited resource base. This paper hence sets out broad implications for creating change in smallholder farming systems in order to promote the adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies in resource-poor smallholder contexts, especially with regard to breaking the profound poverty cycles that smallholder farmers find themselves in and which are unlikely to be broken by the current set of technologies promoted to them.