Why do farmers delay to adopt agricultural technologies?

Robertson Khataza; UWA School of Agriculture and Environment

Supervisors

Associate Prof. Atakelty Hailu, UWA

Senior Lecturer Marit E. Kragt, UWA

Prof. Graeme Doole, University of Waikato

800 million of global population is undernourished

2 billion consume food deficient in micronutrients

Common causes of food insecurity

Adverse environmental conditions

Low investment in research and development

Rapid population growth

Massive food wastage

Environmental factors

40% of cereal area prone to drought

Drought responsible for 10-25% yield loss

Research and technology development

Low investment in research and development

1-2% of GDP allocated to research and development

Population

40360

637 7401,203

4,437

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

Oceania NorthernAmerica

LatinAmerica,

Caribbean

Europe Africa Asia

Food product Percent lossDairy 20Meat 20Oil seeds and pulses 20

Cereals 30Fish and sea food 35

Fruit and vegetables 45

Roots and tubers 45

Average 31

Food losses

Options and strategies available to improve food securityImproved crop varieties and livestock breedsLandcare and soil fertility enhancement strategies

Low adoption of agricultural technologies

Identify factors associated with adoption timing of conservation agriculture technologies

Study sites in Malawi

Which of the following goals do you consider as the most and least important in farming operations?

Most

important

Farmer’s goal Least

important

Maximise farm income or profit

Improve food (staple) availability

Achieve dietary diversity

Minimise farm workload and maximise off-farm

diversificationx

Minimise farm debt/borrowing

x Pursue sustainable land management strategies

Goal Most important

Least important

Relative importance (%)

Food (staple) availability 176 2 71

Farm income or profit 49 11 16

Dietary diversity 12 16 7

Sustainable land management 11 45 4

Minimise farm debt 6 116 2

Off-farm diversification 2 66 1

Total 256 256 100

Farmers’ goals and priorities

Interested in time from awareness to adoption

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Aware of minimum tillage

Adopt minimum tillage

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Aware of residue retention

Adopt residue retention

Average waiting time estimated at 4 years before adoption

Model time-to-adoption using event history analysis (duration/survival analysis)

Modelling adoption time

Factors for early adoption of conservation agriculture

Membership to a farmer association

Learning through peers (farmer-to-farmer exchange)

Learning through extension advisors

Poor soil fertility

Awareness during drought period

Adoption rates are likely to be high for farmer-oriented technologies and research services

Farmers

Researchers/Industry (Products, technologies,

services)

Policy makersExtension

ConclusionsFarmers want technologies that can help them reach their goals (aspirations)

Information acquisition and learning are vital

Promote farmer-oriented technologies

Build farmer-researcher partnerships