Adoption Of Agriculture Research Articles

Critical Factors Determining The Adoption of Sustainable Upland Agriculture In Upland Lawu, Indonesia

<p><em>Several sustainable farming practices have been introduced and have shown a low farmer participation. This paper scrutinizes factors behind the poor adoption of sustainable upland agriculture by engaging the DPSIR in combination with the framework of Capacity-Incentive and Environmental Degradation. This paper employed a simple random sampling method by applying a questionnaire to 408 farmers. We used multiple linear regression analysis to know the linkage between the predictor and the dependent variable. The resulted R-Square was 0.649, with the </em><em>F</em><em> statistic less than 0.05. The regression model can explain the linkage between the proposed predictors and the dependent variable. Governmental incentive is the significant predictor affecting the adoption of sustainable upland agriculture. Ensuring the profitability of it by facilitating market channels, credit, and allocating subsidies for organic input are critical. Building human capital in agriculture through services is also critical in strengthening the upland farmers’ confidence to adopt sustainable agriculture.</em></p>

What agricultural transition means for women in male-headed households in South Asia: an in-depth exploration of intrahousehold evaluation processes

Women’s participation in agriculture is increasing in the Eastern Gangetic Plains due to various external drivers, but they continue to play a limited role in agricultural decision-making. Yet there is limited understanding of the perspectives of spouses in male-headed households post-technology adoption. To understand post-technology adoption experiences of spouses, we conducted qualitative and semi-structured individual interviews with household heads and their spouses in 47 households. This approach aimed to understand their perception on recent adoption of conservation agriculture and its influence on their socio-economic status and roles in agricultural production. Both household heads and their spouses tended to prioritize technological benefits, status change, changing roles and responsibilities at the household level as important contributions/aspects of new conservation agriculture practices. However, upon deeper inspection, women had limited mechanistic understanding compared to men, and their use of free time was situation dependent with location-specific opportunities for women to upskill. Efforts to reduce the information gap and incorporate their technological preferences and needs into future promotional activities are necessary to improve women’s participation in decision-making. Similarly, opportunities to upskill can provide potential opportunities for women to realize their personal aspirations and have a positive influence on their household and community.

Increasing the adoption of conservation agriculture: A framed field experiment in Northern Ghana

AbstractConservation agriculture techniques have the potential to increase agricultural production while decreasing CO2 emissions, yet adoption in the developing world remains low—in part because many years of continuous adoption may be required to realize gains in production. We conduct a framed field experiment in northern Ghana to study how incentives and peer information may affect adoption. Incentives increase adoption, both while they are available and after withdrawal. There is no overall effect of peer information, but we do find evidence that information about long‐term adoption increased adoption, particularly when that information shows that yield gains have been achieved.

A sustainable rural entrepreneurship model developed by the organic farmers of India

Learning outcomes Teaching objective 1: To flourish and explore the current business model to get socioeconomic benefits from organic farming compared to conventional farming; in the context of hill farming. Teaching objective 2: To explore and design innovative entrepreneurship opportunities in the field of organic farming and how these opportunities can be seized by using managerial skills. Teaching objective 3: To analyze the economic benefits of organic farming compared to conventional farming. Case overview/synopsis Manj Gaon is a small village in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. This village serves as the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board’s training facility. Organic farming was the primary source of income for farmers in the late 1970s, but the Green Revolution in India had a negative impact on agriculture, the environment and the economy of the country. After the Green Revolution, the agriculture sector was completely dominated by conventional farming, and the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides affected the village to some extent. But farmers like Bhagchand Ramola paved the way for other farmers to grow and shine through organic farming. The organic farming model developed by Ramola was helping farmers and society in several aspects, such as the economy, health and the environment. A self-developed organic farming model had been generating fair revenue for the farmers and uplifting their socioeconomic status as compared to conventional farming. Complete adoption of organic farming in the village requires an analysis in terms of sustainable economic growth. However, there was a certain dilemma that was stifling the growth of the newly adopted business model because farmers were dependent only on Japanese buyers and input providers. So, there was a huge need to tie up with other consulates across the country. Secondly, expanding a business model requires more input and output in terms of manpower and revenue, so persuading conventional farmers to adopt the organic farming model was quite a challenge for Ramola. Complexity academic level The case can be taught to the MBA-level students. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Perceptions and sociocultural factors underlying adoption of conservation agriculture in the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean region is facing major challenges for soil conservation and sustainable agriculture. Conservation agriculture (CA), including reduced soil disturbance, can help conserve soils and improve soil fertility, but its adoption in the Mediterranean region is limited. Examining farmers’ perceptions of soil and underlying sociocultural factors can help shed light on adoption of soil management practices. In this paper, we conducted a survey with 590 farmers across Morocco, Spain and Tunisia to explore concepts that are cognitively associated with soil and perceptions of tillage. We also evaluated differences in perceptions of innovation, community, adaptive capacity, and responsibility for soil. We found that farmers’ cognitive associations with soil show awareness of soil as a living resource, go beyond agriculture and livelihoods to reveal cultural ties, and link to multiple levels of human needs. Beliefs about the benefits of tillage for water availability and yield persist among the surveyed farmers. We found that openness towards innovation, perceived adaptive capacity and responsibility for soil were associated with minimum tillage, whereas community integration was not. Education, age and farm lifestyle were also associated with differences in these perceptions. CA promotion in the Mediterranean should emphasize the multiple values of soil, should demonstrate how sufficient yields may be achieved alongside resilience to drought, and be tailored to differing levels of environmental awareness and economic needs across north and south.

Beyond Sustainability: Transforming Agriculture through Regenerative Practices

Emerging as a ray of hope in the face of rising environmental issues such as climate change, soil degradation, and the loss of biodiversity is the practice of regenerative farming. An examination of the transformational potential of regenerative practices in agriculture is presented in this article. Particular attention is paid to the role that these activities play in the restoration of ecosystems, the improvement of soil health, and the protection of sustainable food systems. It offers a persuasive argument for the adoption of regenerative farming as a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture, drawing on research that has been conducted in recent times.

Factors influencing smallholder adoption of organic agriculture in Southeast geopolitical region of Nigeria

IntroductionOrganic Agriculture is considered one of the promising sustainable agricultural systems that can promote green economy measures, especially in developing countries where smallholder agriculture forms the backbone of the economy. With increasing awareness of the environmental and health benefits of organic foods, there has been an increasing number of studies assessing the demand side (determinants of consumers’ demand for organic products) within the global South. However, there is a dearth of research information on the supply side (e.g., factors influencing smallholder farmers’ willingness to engage in organic agriculture). To scale up organic agriculture among smallholder farmers, there is a need to explore and understand the factors influencing its adoption.MethodsUsing survey data from rural Nigeria, this paper applied Cragg’s double-hurdle model to assess the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adoption of organic farming in the Southeast geopolitical region of Nigeria.ResultsThe result showed that information about organic farming plays a major role in motivating farmers to adopt organic farming. Farmers that know what organic farming entails were found to be 1.31 percent more likely to adopt organic farming and to dedicate 1.23 percent more of their land to organic farming than the farmers that are less aware of organic farming. Similarly, an organized organic marketing structure and a premium on organic products were found to statistically improve the adoption of organic farming. The proportion of land dedicated to organic farming was found to be 2.15 percent more for farmers that received a premium for their organic produce than their counterparts that do not receive a premium for their produce.DiscussionThe findings demonstrated policy actions aimed at certification among smallholder farmers employing organic farming methods can facilitate system-wise organic farming in rural areas. However, the nature of such certification that will not jeopardize the agency of the farmers requires further investigation.

Income Effect of E-commerce Adoption Behavior of Navel Orange Farmers in Southern Jiangxi Province

With the continuous development of e-commerce in rural areas, the income effect of e-commerce has become a hot topic. Based on this background, this paper investigated the e-commerce adoption of navel orange farmers in southern Jiangxi Province, obtained 68 farmers' micro-data, and analyzed the income increasing effect of e-commerce adoption behavior by using multiple T-test and multiple regression analysis. It is found that the planting income and total household income of farmers who participate in e-commerce are higher than those who do not adopt e-commerce, and the adoption behavior of farmers has a significant and positive impact on their own income. In addition, factors such as education level, entrepreneurial experience, work experience, gift expenditure, network and logistics accessibility of navel orange growers in southern Jiangxi have a greater impact on the adoption behavior of e-commerce, which in turn affects the income increase effect of e-commerce and promotes the income increase of navel orange growers. In view of this, the paper puts forward some feasible suggestions such as improving the e-commerce infrastructure in the concentrated area of navel orange cultivation in southern Jiangxi Province, strengthening the publicity of the benefits of e-commerce, enabling farmers to have a deeper understanding of e-commerce, strengthening the introduction of e-commerce professionals, and improving the education mechanism of e-commerce in the area of navel orange cultivation.

Is policy convergence required to improve women’s empowerment in agriculture? Evidence from West Bengal

ABSTRACT Farmers’ use of agricultural technology is necessary for reducing poverty. However, women make up most poor smallholder farmers in India and are generally unable to access relevant opportunities. Tandem to supporting women farmers in technology adoption is increasing their empowerment. While women’s empowerment has been on policy agendas in India for several years, progress has been slow and results are mixed. Using primary data from West Bengal, this study finds that female farmers with access to agricultural technologies will likely have social advantages over those without, but institutional and social support is necessary to facilitate real empowerment and overall development.

What affects organic farming adoption in emerging economies? A missing link in the Indian agriculture sector

PurposeThis article intends to explore critical factors that affect the adoption of organic farming in emerging economies. The authors respond to the calls from policymakers, non-government organizations, business firms and scholars to improve the farmers' awareness of the negative impact of synthetic chemical pesticides, phosphorus, potassium fertilizers and mineral nitrogen used in traditional farming.Design/methodology/approachThrough self-administered survey questionnaires, responses were obtained from 397 farmers (conventional) regarding organic farming adoption in Haryana (India). The survey responses were collected between October 2022 and December 2022. The authors apply the “partial least squares structural equation modeling” (PLS-SEM) to test the framed hypotheses.FindingsThe present article demonstrates six critical determinants of organic farming adoption, i.e. behavioral, cultivation, economic, governmental, marketing, and social factors. These six factors drive 71.0% (R2) variation in organic farming adoption. Governmental factors have a positive but insignificant influence on organic farming adoption. Interestingly, the impact of behavioral and cultivation factors is crucial per path coefficient values.Originality/valueFor the first time, the authors conducted a study on organic farming adoption in Haryana that lies in its context-specific implementation, utilization of localized knowledge and expertise, regional policy support, agricultural diversification and community participation. Future research can build upon by adding agriculture scientists to the study to respond to the cost, quality of the crop and impact of socio-economic policies as moderators/mediators on adoption decisions.

Lentil nitrogen fixation response to fertilizer and inoculant in the northern Great Plains

AbstractLentil (Lens culinarisMedikus) production in the semiarid northern Great Plains of the United States has increased dramatically over the past two decades. Lentil in rotation provides agroecosystem benefits of more efficient water use, pest cycle disruption, and biological nitrogen (N) fixation. Increasing N fixation could alleviate soil acidification and groundwater impairment, decrease N fertilizer costs, and increase lentil seed yield. Despite widespread farmer adoption of lentil in the region, little is known about the benefits of fertilizer or inoculant type on N fixation. The aim of this study was to determine how nutrients (potassium (K), sulfur (S), and foliar‐applied micronutrients) and rhizobial inoculant types (seed‐coat powder and granular) influence N fixation of lentil. The study was conducted at two field sites in Montana from 2019 to 2021. Fixed N amounts were calculated using both an N difference approach and15N natural abundance method. N fixation was highly responsive to climatic conditions and soil characteristics. The amount of N fixed did not respond to K fertilization, likely because soil test K levels were sufficient. In a moderately dry year at a site with low soil sulfate‐S, fertilizer application of 5.6 kg S ha−1increased N fixed by 40%. Inoculated lentil fixed more N than uninoculated lentil in two site‐years, but there were no differences in N fixed between inoculant types. Inoculation response was not related to field cropping histories with legumes. The study shows that S fertilization and rhizobial inoculation have potential to increase lentil N fixation amounts in the northern Great Plains.

Production, consumption, and market supply of edible crickets: insights from East Africa

Globally, crickets are gaining recognition as a valuable alternative protein source for human consumption due to their lower resource requirement and ecological footprint compared to traditional livestock. In this paper, we examine strategies that may expedite the sustainable domestication of crickets as a food source. Using survey data from 306 households in western Kenya, we find that supplying cricket production starter kits, granting access to credit facilities, encouraging participation in farmer groups, and fostering partnerships can enhance the adoption of cricket farming. Moreover, we provide new evidence that institutional training significantly increases cricket yields while embracing cricket consumption (i.e. entomophagy) increases market supply. These findings underscore the importance of technical training, provision of production starter kits, and raising awareness about entomophagy to achieve sustainable mass production and adoption of cricket farming.

Level of adoption of climate smart agriculture among smallholder rice farmers in Osun State: does financing matter?

Application of climate smart agriculture (CSA) technologies being context-specific is premised on integrating agroclimatic and socioeconomic conditions, institutional structures, and most importantly, financing mechanisms vis-à-vis the adoption capacities of the farmers. This study examined financing adoption intensity of CSA technologies among sampled smallholder rice farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. The results of this study point to the fact that gender of household head, marital status, access to climate information, access to off-farm income, access to cooperative and access to credit were the determinants of level of adoption of CSA technology amongst the smallholder rice farmers in the study area. In view of the nexus between CSA adoption level and access to credit as revealed in this study, increasing awareness about how the credit market works and information on the provision of climate change can help farmers to better adapt to climate change. This significant impact of the credit accessibility on level of CSA adoption confirms the critical role that credit availability has in climate financing. Thus, agricultural policies to improve institutional support, such as involvement in farm-based cooperative, credit facility, and off-farm income activities, are crucial to upscale CSA adoption in the study area. The income from non-farm activities can be reinvested into farm operations to improve farmers’ adaptive capacity and subsequently increase productivity. It could also be recommended that policies enhancing and strengthening institutional support may also be valuable in augmenting the adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers.

Economic and risk analysis of sustainable practice adoption among U.S. corn growers

CONTEXTAgricultural sustainability has three main pillars: a healthy environment, economic profitability, and social equity. Most programs, however, focus on environmental benefits when establishing protocols for farms, de-emphasizing or ignoring the economic and social aspects. This focus on the environmental aspects of agricultural sustainability misses the importance of economic factors that are commonly found to be key determinants of farmer adoption of best management practices. More research on the economic effects of sustainability practices on farm income and risk would improve understanding and facilitate communication with farmers about the tradeoffs and risks when using the protocols. OBJECTIVESOur study has two primary objectives. First, we quantify the effects of sustainable practice adoption on the mean, variance, and skewness of yield for U.S. corn farmers. Second, based on the estimated yield risk model, we quantify the effects of sustainable practice adoption on farmer returns and the cost of risk to better understand the impacts of sustainability on farmer welfare. METHODSUsing the 2010 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, we construct a composite indicator proxying the intensity of sustainable practice adoption for 73 practices mostly intended to reduce soil erosion and improve nutrient and pest management. We use this indicator in a flexible moment-based approach to analyze field-level corn yield data. Estimation results are used to quantify expected farmer returns and the cost of risk (the risk premium). The cost of risk is decomposed into costs from variance (symmetric variation around the mean) and from skewness (downside risk from unusually low yields). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSResults indicate that substantial opportunities exist for US corn growers to increase sustainable practice adoption. Increased sustainable practice adoption significantly increased mean yield and decreased yield variance and skewness. In addition, increased adoption of sustainable practices increased expected farmer returns and, in most cases, also increased the cost of risk mostly from increased costs from lower skewness (greater downside risk). The positive effect of increased expected income always dominated the negative effect of increased costs of risk, so that on average farmer welfare increased with higher levels of sustainable practice adoption. SIGNIFICANCEOur study helps fill a literature gap by evaluating the economic aspects of sustainability, specifically farm income and the cost of risk. The results provide critical information for policy making and program establishing.

Farmer education and adoption of sustainable and chemical pesticide-free agriculture: evidence from rural Burkina Faso

PurposeIn a context where the promotion of a more sustainable agriculture is clearly aimed at, the paradoxical combination of sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) with chemical pesticides use instead of biological pest management techniques is recurrent in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries like Burkina Faso. Chemical pesticides are harmful to the environment and health. This paper aims to analyze the role of farmer education on the mode of adoption of SAP.Design/methodology/approachAn endogenous treatment effect model is used with survey data on 1,898 rural households in Burkina Faso.FindingsThe results show a positive causal effect of farmer education on sustainable and chemical pesticide-free agriculture adoption.Research limitations/implicationsFormal education appears to be general. This research could be extended to consider the role of training or extension services. More detailed results, focusing on spatial effects, could reinforce those of the present research.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies, this paper addresses for the first time the paradoxical behavior of combining SAP with chemical pesticides use. It shows that farmer education contributes to explain it and is therefore a determining factor for a more sustainable agriculture.

Benefits and Challenges of Indian Organic Farming: A Comprehensive Review

The organic movement may suddenly be in the mainstream's spotlight, but that hasn't always been the case. Local organic farmers have developed, experimented with, and exchanged production techniques since the 1950s. Globally, the production of organic crops in the organic farming system is increasing momentum. It is necessary to develop a variety of alternatives to chemical-intensive agriculture in order to achieve sustainable food, livelihood, and environmental security. With 72.3 million acres of land, organic farming is practiced in 187 countries worldwide. From 0.58 thousand ha in 2003–2004 to 26.6 thousand ha in 2020–21, the area used for organic farming rose quickly, and numerous government programs are being launched. The importance of health advantages is growing as more individuals become aware of the food they and their family members eat. As a result, products created by organic farming exist to some extent. In the past, individuals spent money on premium local produce, meat, and organic goods. This resulted in a long life and a stable way of life. Therefore, organic farming supports the one health approach to ensure the health of the environment, plants, animals, people, and soil. Organic farming uses a regenerative method to rebuild food and agricultural systems, which enhances ecosystem benefits. As a result, it offers a realistic alternative for producing clean, sustainable food with little harm to the environment. Small and marginal farmers should use organic agricultural methods, particularly for their long-term food security and to reduce risk. Long-term organic farming adoption in horticulture crops will benefit from sustained efforts from research institutions, developmental organizations, progressive farmers, input dealers, processors, and other stakeholders. This article focuses on appropriate organic farming techniques for horticultural and agricultural crops that are location-specific. This paper gives a general summary of organic farming's advantages, difficulties, and current situation in India.

Effect of adoption of organic farming on technical efficiency of olive-growing farms: empirical evidence from West Bank of Palestine

Organic farming is one of the methods that increases the value added of agricultural products in a sustainable way. This paper examines how the adoption of organic farming has impacted the technical efficiency of Palestinian olive-growing farms in the West Bank. Using cross-sectional data of olive farms in the Jenin governorate, we employ an input-oriented data envelopment analysis framework to compute radial and input use efficiencies. Considering heterogeneity in technology between organic and conventional farming, a metafrontier with a directional distance function approach was applied. As self-selection bias may exist due to the decision to adopt organic farming, we apply the endogenous switching regression method to reduce bias caused by unobserved heterogeneity. Results suggest that organic farms in Jenin are not less efficient than conventional farms. Their organic farming method improves input use efficiency with respect to labor and cost relative to conventional farming. While organic farming is commonly considered to be less efficient and more costly, our findings from Jenin imply that it is, in fact, a more efficient method. We suggest that promoting organic olive farming could offer an effective strategy for small farms to add value, despite the severe geopolitical constraints of farming in the West Bank.

Adoption of Improved Sugarcane Cultivation Practices by the Farmers in Karnal District of Haryana, India

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is an important commercial crop of India. Sugarcane and sugar beet are used for large scale production of sugar in the world. The present study was conducted in purposively selected Karnal district of Haryana state. There are 8 blocks in Karnal district of Haryana, out of which Indri block were selected on the basis of maximum area under cultivation of sugarcane. From the list so prepared, 12 respondents were selected from 10 villages of the block which constitutes total number of 120 respondents. Majority of the respondents 55.83% fell in the medium adoption level group, whereas 25.00 per cent respondents were observed in the high adoption level group and remaining 19.17 per cent respondents formed low adoption level group. It is hereby concluded that majority of farmers were having medium level of adoption followed by high and low adoption level, respectively. Socio-economic characteristics like Annual income, Land holding, social participation and Extension contact were positively and significantly related with extent of adoption of farmers regarding recommended sugarcane cultivation practices. Whereas, positively and non-significant relationship between Age, Education, Family type and Family size and their level of adoption of recommended sugarcane cultivation practices.

Factors driving the adoption of organic tea farming in the northern region of Bangladesh

Tea is a regular export item for Bangladesh, but due to slow growth in production, the country's tea exports have declined. However, organic tea has a great future in this regard. Exploring the underlying factors for the adoption of organic tea farming has great potential for the development of tea production in a sustainable manner. Therefore, our main objective was to identify factors influencing tea growers’ attitudes, perceptions, and adoption of organic tea farming in the Panchagarh district of Bangladesh. We adopted the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to investigate the underlying factors affecting the farmers' belief in the adoption of organic farming were measured based on control factors (marketing factors and cost and benefit factors), attitude towards organic farming, and social factors (extension factors) through a binary logistic regression model. Results of this study revealed that organic growers had a more favorable perception, which was significantly different from non-organic growers reading of various factors related to organic farming. Our results demonstrated that education and knowledge significantly influence the farmers to form a highly favorable attitude towards organic tea farming, which together explained 20.6 percent (R2 = 0.206) of the overall variance. Moreover, attitudes towards organic farming and cost-benefit (CBF) factors had a significant impact on the adoption of organic tea farming. Results also revealed that the predicted adoption probability was found to be higher among those farmers who had a highly favorable attitude and a high perceived CBF level towards organic farming. Finally, based on the findings, we concluded that a participatory extension program to enhance the level of knowledge related to organic tea farming could significantly impact farmers’ attitudes and behaviors towards the practice of organic tea farming.

Impact of digitization of sustainable agriculture in Uganda: a case study

Uganda has made outstanding progress in agricultural output, which is crucial for preserving the safety of the country's food supply. The role of technology and digitization in promoting sustainable agriculture practices in Uganda. The case study will focus on various innovative initiatives and solutions that have been implemented in the country to enhance agricultural productivity, reduce environmental impact, and improve livelihoods. By examining the current state of technology adoption in Ugandan agriculture, analyzing successful case studies, and identifying challenges and opportunities, this research will provide valuable insights into the potential of technology and digitization to drive sustainable agricultural development in Uganda." Keywords: Agricultural digitization, High-quality agricultural development, skilled labor, a two way fixed effects model, and the threshold effect