Behavioural factors affecting the adoption of sustainable farming practices: a policy-oriented review

Dessart, François J.; Barreiro‐Hurlé, Jesús; Bavel, René van

doi:10.1093/erae/jbz019

Cited by 617 publications

(557 citation statements)

References 165 publications

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“…A study by Adesina and Baidu-Forson [28] discusses the limited role of farmers' preferences in adoption studies conducted by economists and argues that farmers' perceptions significantly affect their adoption decisions. Another study by Dessart and co-workers [29] suggests that understanding and including the role of factors related to farmer behavior and perceptions in adoption studies is crucial to enhance traditional economic analysis of the farmers' decision-making. Therefore, before an AgT is introduced, promoted, and implemented, its adoption, scaling-up, and associated constraints as perceived by the farmers must be investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania

et al. 2020

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The low agricultural productivity of key crops and food insecurity continue to be key issues in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Tanzania. The growing population, depleting resources, and changing climate further amplify these issues. Globally, many agricultural technologies (AgTs) are available as pathways for improved agricultural productivity and food security, however, they have had relatively little success in SSA and Tanzania. This is because the uptake of AgTs is a complex process, which is highly localized, involving multiple actors, stages, and spatial and time dimensions. Smallholder farmers often experience issues of sustainability, constraints for adoption, and scaling-up throughout the uptake process of AgTs, all of which vary by region. This indicates a need for a systematic and simultaneous understanding of sustainability, constraints for adoption, and scaling-up of AgTs to better guide agricultural strategy and policy interventions in SSA and Tanzania. Moreover, in order to understand the local settings better, a consideration of the perceptions of the farmers themselves, who are the primary actors in the uptake process of AgTs, is key. Acknowledging this, the study takes on a case study approach, using the scaling-up assessment (ScalA) method and three focus group discussions with a total of 44 smallholder farmers to systematically and simultaneously assess the sustainability, constraints for adoption, and scaling-up of three AgTs (use of fertilizers, improved seeds, and small-scale irrigation) in Tanzania. The study finds that the farmers perceive all three AgTs to be sustainable for the study region. Adoption rates are perceived to be medium for use of fertilizers, high for improved seeds, and low for small-scale irrigation. The most significant constraints for adoption experienced by the farmers are lack of technical physical inputs, marketing facilities, and know-how. Scaling-up is perceived to be well fulfilled for use of fertilizers and improved seeds, but only partially fulfilled for small-scale irrigation, which is the most limited of the three AgTs. The most significant constraints for scaling-up experienced by farmers are a lack of confidence in the added value of the AgTs beyond project activities, marketing facilities, and technical physical inputs. The overall success potential is high for the use of fertilizers and improved seeds, and the average for small-scale irrigation. The farmers’ perceptions partially indicate why the bundle of AgTs is lacking in the study region and provide a basis for discussing targeted agricultural and policy interventions in Tanzania.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania

et al. 2020

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“…This article aims to answer this question. It is, moreover, one of the first studies to present the results of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) in the European farming context (Behaghel, Macours and Subervie, 2019;Dessart, Barreiro-Hurle and van Bavel, 2019). 6 This study was carried out in partnership with the Compagnie d'Amenagement des Coteaux de Gascogne (CACG), the water distribution company in charge of the management of irrigation infrastructure in the Neste river basin in South West France.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can we nudge farmers into saving water? Evidence from a randomised experiment

Chabé‐Ferret

Coënt

Reynaud

et al. 2019

European Review of Agricultural Economics

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We test whether social comparison nudges can promote water-saving behaviour among farmers as a complement to traditional CAP measures. We conducted a randomised controlled trial among 200 farmers equipped with irrigation smart meters in SouthWest France. Treated farmers received weekly information on individual and group water consumption over four months. Our results rule out medium to large effect-sizes of the nudge. Moreover, they suggest that the nudge was effective at reducing the consumption of those who irrigate the most, although it appears to have reduced the proportion of those who do not consume water at all.

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“…However, the path coefficient between IE and BV differed only slightly from zero (although still significantly). According to Dessart et al [ 84 ], contact with experienced farmers who had already adopted certain practices enabled the collection of information that would otherwise be unavailable. There are many uncertainties related to constructing pig housing, as this practice is innovative compared to the status quo of conventional pig farming methods.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding German Pig Farmers’ Intentions to Design and Construct Pig Housing for the Improvement of Animal Welfare

Winkel

Meyer-Höfer

Heise

2020

Animals

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Improving farm animal welfare requires modifications to the behavior of many stakeholders. Investments in more animal-friendly barns to improve animal welfare have already been made by some farmers. However, more farmers must be persuaded to modernize their barns. The marketing of animal-friendly products is the responsibility of retailers, and consumers have to purchase these products. Currently, little is known about what (and how) underlying psychological factors influence a farmer’s intention to construct pig housing to improve farm animal welfare. Pig farmers in Germany were questioned via an online questionnaire in May 2020 (n = 424). Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), partial least squares path modeling was used. The constructs: attitude, subjective norm, direct and indirect experience associated with the construction of pig housing substantially influenced the farmers’ behaviors. As expected, the impact of perceived behavioral control on intention was negative but was also very low and only slightly significant. Contrary to expectations, the perceived behavioral control had no significant influence on farmers’ behaviors. Pig farmers who have already rebuilt their pigs’ housing should be motivated to share their experiences to influence their colleagues’ intentions to construct. Our results will encourage policy makers to consider the important role of the different psychological and intrinsic factors influencing pig farmers. Thus, the sustainability of pig farming can be improved by giving politicians a better understanding of farmers´ behaviors.

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Behavioural factors affecting the adoption of sustainable farming practices: a policy-oriented review

Cited by 617 publications

References 165 publications

Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania

Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania

Can we nudge farmers into saving water? Evidence from a randomised experiment

Understanding German Pig Farmers’ Intentions to Design and Construct Pig Housing for the Improvement of Animal Welfare

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