Who is using the new technology? The association of wealth status and gender with the planting of improved tree fallows in Eastern Province, Zambia

Phiri, D.; Franzel, Steven; Mafongoya, Paramu; Jere, Isaac; Katanga, Roza; Phiri, Stanslous

doi:10.1016/s0308-521x(03)00055-6

Cited by 95 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…These studies demonstrate that improved fallows are more profitable than the non-use of any external inputs, a practise prevalent among resource poor farmers (Mafongoya et al 2006). Several studies (Akinnifesi et al 2006;Ajayi et al 2007, Phiri et al 2004Quinion et al 2010) also indicate that farmers who take up the technology have higher welfare, measured in terms of outcome parameters such as increased maize yields, household incomes, and assets among others. Despite all these demonstrated benefits, only a few resource constrained farmers have taken up the technology (Akinnifesi et al 2006;Ajayi et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Estimating the causal effect of improved fallows on farmer welfare using robust identification strategies in Chongwe, Zambia

Kuntashula

Mungatana

2013

Agroforest Syst

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Agricultural technological improvements are crucial to increase on farm production and thereby reduce poverty. However the use of improper identification strategies on the impacts of improved technologies on farmer welfare could potentially pose a threat to good practice agricultural policy making. In this paper, propensity matching strategies and endogenous switching regression were used to test whether an improved fallow, a soil fertility improving technology that passed the requirements for a high impact intervention based on non randomised impact assessment methodologies could still pass this test. Using data from 324 randomly surveyed households in Chongwe district of Zambia, the rigorous econometric methods confirmed the positive impact of improved fallows on household maize yields, maize productivity, per capita maize yield and maize income. Conflicting results were obtained when a broader welfare indicator -per capita crop income, was considered. Whereas the non-randomised and kernel matching methods showed that per capita crop incomes were significantly higher for the adopters than for the non adopters, the causal effect of improved fallows on this variable was non significant when nearest neighbour matching strategy and the more robust endogenous switching regression were used. It was concluded that the technology improves welfare through increased maize and hence increased food security, and through incomes from the maize crop. The maize income derived from improved fallows were however not sufficient enough to drive the general crop income to significantly higher 2 levels. The need to diversify the use of improved fallows on high valued crops was recommended while the importance of using better and more robust methodologies in evaluating impact of interventions was emphasised.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Estimating the causal effect of improved fallows on farmer welfare using robust identification strategies in Chongwe, Zambia

Kuntashula

Mungatana

2013

Agroforest Syst

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“…He found that the poorest and newest homesteads were less likely to have planted trees and the wealthiest homesteads were most likely to have planted woodlots, suggesting that wealth status affects adoption. In contrast, Phiri et al (2004) evaluated the relationship of gender and wealth status with the planting of improved tree fallows in Zambia to assess how these farmer characteristics affect the uptake of agroforestry technologies. They concluded that improved fallows are both gender-neutral and wealth-neutral, which suggests that there are other factors which determine the adoption potential of these agroforestry technologies.…”

Section: Studies Focusing On Extrinsic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Meijer

Catacutan²,

Ajayi³

et al. 2014

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

599

362

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Despite the great potential of agricultural innovations, the uptake by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa seems to be slow. We reviewed existing theories and frameworks for the uptake of agricultural innovations and found that these tend to emphasize the role of extrinsic factors such as the characteristics of the adopter and the external environment in the decision-making process. In this paper, we argue that intrinsic factors such as the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of the potential adopter towards the innovation play a key role, but this has been less studied. We present an analytical framework that combines both extrinsic and intrinsic factors in farmers' decisions to adopt new agricultural technologies and apply the framework to agroforestry adoption as a case study. We review the literature on agroforestry adoption in sub-Saharan Africa and identify the extrinsic and intrinsic variables affecting the uptake of agroforestry technologies. We conclude that the uptake of agricultural technologies is a complex process influenced by both extrinsic and intrinsic variables, and recommend that future studies aiming to understand the adoption process of agricultural innovations take into account both sets of variables. A mechanistic understanding of how intrinsic and extrinsic factors interact and drive adoption can help in targeting technologies appropriately to ensure sustainability.

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“…Farm size positively influences the adoption of improved fallows (Keil et al 2005;Phiri et al 2004;; therefore it is not surprising that it also influences farmer to farmer dissemination. Improved tree fallows occupy land that would otherwise be used by crops and therefore farmers with small farm size would not want to forego a seasons' crop in order to have soil fertility enhancing trees/shrubs whose benefits are not immediate.…”

Section: Seed and Knowledge Sharing Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing seed and knowledge: farmer to farmer dissemination of agroforestry technologies in western Kenya

et al. 2006

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Although there's increasing emphasis on farmer-led extension in rural development, very few studies have been done to understand the social processes involved. This study was undertaken to identify farm and farmer characteristics that may influence dissemination of seed and knowledge of improved fallows and biomass transfer, to whom, how and what is disseminated. This was done by carrying out a formal and informal survey involving a random sample of 120 farmers from Siaya and Vihiga districts of western Kenya who were involved in a pilot project on soil fertility replenishment by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). A second survey involved 40 farmers, selected using the snowball sampling technique that were given seed and information by the first group of farmers. Descriptive statistics and logit regression models were used to analyze data. Results presented showed that seed and knowledge were mostly shared along kinship ties. Furthermore, informal social networks were found to be more effective for seed than knowledge. This calls for simplification of technical information by development professionals in order to help support farmers' understanding and communication of complex principles. Farmers with leadership status in their groups, those who belonged to many groups and those with larger farm sizes were more likely to give out seed of improved fallows. These categories of farmers could be targeted to enhance the spread of technologies.

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Who is using the new technology? The association of wealth status and gender with the planting of improved tree fallows in Eastern Province, Zambia

Cited by 95 publications

References 3 publications

Estimating the causal effect of improved fallows on farmer welfare using robust identification strategies in Chongwe, Zambia

Estimating the causal effect of improved fallows on farmer welfare using robust identification strategies in Chongwe, Zambia

The role of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Sharing seed and knowledge: farmer to farmer dissemination of agroforestry technologies in western Kenya

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