Decision–making and innovation among small–scale yam farmers in central Jamaica: a dynamic, pragmatic and adaptive process

Abstract

Many researchers in the Caribbean have protested the generally negative stereotyping of small-scale farmers and the small-scale domestic agricultural sector. The essence of this pejorative attitude is that small-scale farmers display apathy and resistance to change and are reluctant to accept innovations. A major reason for this perspective is a lack of knowledge and understanding of and sensitivity towards the factors that influence and inform farmers' decisions. Studying the decision-making of small-scale farmers can, therefore, shed light on their activities and help inform policymaking. This paper uses the example of small-scale yam farmers in central Jamaica to explore and investigate important issues related to decision-making innovations around four questions. Can the decisions of farmers about innovations be considered to be rational? What are the major factors that influence decision outcomes? Why do so many agricultural innovations and modernization initiatives that target small-scale farmers fail? Do farmers really shun innovations that have clear and obvious benefits and, if so, why?

Building Sustainable Smallholder Cooperatives in Emerging Market Economies: Findings from a Five-Year Project in Kenya

“…Being able to depend upon the cooperative to purchase their milk regardless of how much milk is available at different times of the year and, overall, the trust that the cooperative will support their long-term objective of becoming more successful dairy farmers (see Table 5). Most important, our findings reinforce those of other researchers who have shown that the desire of smallholders to preserve their farms and local communities is not, in any way, an obstacle to adopting new innovations [23,24].…”

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Sustainable Food Production Systems and Food Security: Economic and Environmental Imperatives in Yam Cultivation in Trelawny, Jamaica

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Socio-economic determinants of keeping goats and sheep by rural people in southern Benin

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