This study discusses the strategies and lessons learned by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in targeting rice research toward poor women.The strategies include socio-economic research on gender issues;technology development for women-specific tasks through participatory research; collaborative research with national agricultural research systems (NARS) and networks; research-oriented training on gender analysis; organization of conferences and workshops on gender issues; recognition of female rice scientists; gender audit of research projects and appointment of a social scientist to coordinate gender-related activities.A revised conceptual framework of farming systems research and gender analysis was used to better understand the complex interrelationship between the environment (physical, socio-economic, cultural), and intra-household dynamics, particularly men and women's roles and responsibilities in rice-based farming systems.Case studies were conducted in the Philippines and eastern India.Improved seed management and adoption of improved glutinous rice varieties showed potential for increasing yields and income.Women's narratives were interwoven within the quantitative analysis to make their voices heard in the story.The most important lesson learned from the author's experience is that targeting research toward poor rural women can be an effective strategy in providing them with choices, opportunities and abilities to enhance their role as food producers. This will hopefully help improve their social and economic status / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Technology adoption has been seen as key to the development of more productive agriculture in lesser developed countries. But the adoption and adaptation of new agricultural technology occurs at the level of farm families where decisions are made based on perceived risks and benefits of the new technology, and its fit within the knowledge and practices of existing agricultural system. / The processes and consequences of household decision-making are investigated using unidisciplinary methods of decision analysis involving statistical, mathematical, psychological, anthropological and econometric techniques brought together in a holistic manner. The study is focused in the Ada and Selale regions of the Central Ethiopian Highlands. The technologies studied are fertilizer, improved crop varieties, pesticides and cross-bred cows. / Differences in goals and strategies of households are caused by inequalities in ownership of physical resources, and access to local institutions and indigenous knowledge. Village and regional institutions greatly influence access to physical (e.g. land) and non-physical (knowledge and information) resources. Successful intervention strategies are those that recognize region- and experience-specific potentials. / When compared with physical resources, non-physical resources exert greater influence on decisions to adopt technologies and on the efficiency with which inputs are used in the production of grain and milk outputs. Producers are willing to take risks in enterprises in which they have the advantages of favourable location or experience. The degree of risk-averse behaviour of households reduces the probability of adopting technologies in both study sites. Natural factors (e.g. rainfall) and policy variables (e.g., land tenure and market) increase production risk. Indigenous production knowledge and schooling consistently reduce variability in production.

A study of the process of technological change in contemporary Mayan agricultural systems was undertaken by an action research method that involved close collaboration with the rural development efforts of farmers in the northern highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Firstly, the socioeconomic context of technological change in Chiapas was described, with special reference to the effects of markets on agricultural development. Secondly, theta actors affecting the productivity and sustainability of the regions principal agricultural systems: maize and beans for subsistence and coffee for cash were described and measured. The use of traditional swidden methods of maize cultivation with shorter fallow periods was found to be causing a significant decline in the fertility of soils. Alternative, non-burning methods were found to be sustainable in terms of soil fertility, but required high labour inputs and were less productive during a 2-3 year transition period. Despite government programmes to promote the development of coffee plantations most farmers had adopted only ad hoc improvements, and coffee system productivities were found to be generally low. Models integrating dynamic and linear progranuning components of the improvement problem systems in maize and coffee production were constructed using evidence from the field studies. By examining a number of hypothetical scenarios, further hypotheses about the coffee and maize systems were generated. It was inferred that the relative scarcity of farm labour, cash or land resources would affect the optimum technical decisions of farmers. In particular, it was concluded that farmers with scarce cash resources would face most difficulty (in terms of loss of effective income) in adopting non-burning maize techniques and the promoted methods of coffee plantation improvement. On the basis of the evidence from the field studies and the modelling exercises a number of technical, project and policy recommendations were advocated. These were based upon the objective of maximising the potential competitive strengths of the peasant mode of production, including: the efficient use of marginal, dispersed and inaccessible resources and the production of a wide range of specialised agricultural and forestry products.

A system dynamics model is developed to study the technology adoption process (TAP) of modern agriculture input technology such as the biotechnologies. The work shows that the system dynamics approach is appropriate to integrate the different components considered in the TAP conceptual framework elaborated in this work. The conceptual framework illustrates the different system components found important in the literature, portfolio decision-making, learning, information gathering, uncertainties and economics perceptions and their involved relationships. / The model is first calibrated and validated using the case of soybeans adoption versus corn uses in Quebec from 1987 to 1998. Validation is performed through five tests, namely visual, statistical and sensitivity, modularity and extendibility are performed to show the relevancy of the approach. / The model is then applied to the case of four input biotechnology crops. Again three types of validation tests are carried out. Results show that the model predicted the shape of the curve for all application fields.

Bibliography: leaves 488-505. / Microfiche. / xx, 505 leaves, bound 28 cm

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1971. / Bibliography: leaves 349-353. / xv, 353 l maps, graphs, tables

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Agricultural Economics. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 369-383).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Technische Universität Berlin. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-179).

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been widely researched as a mechanism for improving the socio-economic status of disadvantaged, rural communities. In order to do this numerous technology-based initiatives have been introduced into disadvantaged, rural communities to assist them in various aspects of their lives. Unfortunately, even when the proposed benefit of a particular technology is clearly evident to its initiators, the adoption by the target users is often uncertain. This has also been the case with e-commerce in agriculture. Despite the numerous benefits of e-commerce for agricultural producers, the uptake has been low. Trust is a critical pre-condition for the adoption of e-marketplaces. E-marketplaces expose consumers to the risk of non-delivery or misrepresentation of goods ordered and the misuse of personal information by external parties. Additionally, the time investment needed to make a shift to e-marketplaces and the opinions of important reference groups affects the user’s willingness to trust and depend on an e-marketplace. This study was undertaken to assess the extent to which rural users with limited ICT experience would trust and, consequently, adopt an e-marketplace to support agricultural trade. A pragmatic philosophy was adopted in this study, indicating that the researcher’s view of reality is founded on the practical implications and outcomes that are observed. This study used a Canonical Action Research strategy to design, develop and deploy a voice based e-marketplace to assist the trading activities of a Western Cape based aloe community. The community was allowed to utilise thee-marketplace over a period of eight weeks. Thereafter, interviews were held with the participants to investigate their perceptions of the technology. As a result, a model proposing the factors that must be in place for trust to be achieved in a voice based e-marketplace was proposed. The study found that the trustworthiness of a technology results from the technology’s technical capability to satisfy the needs of its users reliably. Usability and security were found to be important determinants of the trustworthiness of a technology. Furthermore, the requirements elicitation process was found to be central to achieving trust as it defines the necessary criteria for developing secure, usable, functional, and reliable technologies that meet the needs of their users.