Knowledge and Adoption of Complex Agricultural Technologies
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
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In most of Sub-Saharan Africa,
agricultural extension models have become more decentralized
and participatory and thus rely on effective
farmer-to-farmer learning, while increasingly including
nontraditional forms of education. At the same time,
agricultural technologies become more complex and are now
often promoted as integrated packages, which are likely to
increase the complexity of the diffusion process. Based on a
randomized controlled trial, this study assesses the effects
of “farmer-to-farmer” extension and a video intervention on
adoption of a complex technology package among 2,382
smallholders in Ethiopia. Both extension-only and extension
combined with video increase adoption and knowledge of the
package, especially of its more complex components; on
average, however, the video intervention has no additional
effect on adoption. Knowledge and the number of adopted
practices also increase among farmers not actively
participating in extension activities, which suggests
information diffusion. For this group, the additional video
intervention has a reinforcing effect, and particularly
fosters adoption of the integrated package.
Palabras clave
RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL, INTEGRATED SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT, TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION, AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SYSTEMS, RURAL DEVELOPMENT