Conservation Agriculture (CA) involves the practice of three interlinked principles of minimum soil disturbance, a permanent soil cover and crop rotation. CA has been promoted in Africa to address food security and environmental challenges. However, adoption of the technology has been slow. Although several studies have been done to understand the factors that affect CA adoption, only a few have investigated the role played by social systems in adoption. Further to this, these adoption studies have methodological limitations, which fail to evaluate farmers’ attitudes to the technology and their perceived effects of social and institutional factors on CA adoption. This study investigated the effects of the social system (represented by attitudes, by-laws, customs and social influence) in the decision to adopt the three CA principles. It also further sought to determine the influence institutional factors (access to markets, implements, credit and extension services) on adoption. The effects of the same predictor variables on the area under CA were also explored. The study applies the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Further, the study also compared the adoption of CA principles between female and male farmers and between the rich and the poor. The study targeted CA adopters in Nkayi, Zimbabwe and Choma, Zambia. The study found differences in attitudes to CA benefits between the two districts, suggesting that the farmers’ perceptions of CA depend on the perceived performance of the CA options promoted in a particular context. The effects of the social system factors and institutional factors on CA adoption and on the area under CA had mixed results. By-laws had a significant positive relationship with the practice of minimum soil disturbance but negative relationship with the practice of soil cover and crop rotation. Social influence and customs had significant positive correlation with the area under CA but no significant effects on the adoption of CA principles. Institutional factors had a significantly negative relationship with practice of minimum soil disturbance but a positive relationship with the practice of crop rotation and the area under CA, which suggests that more institutional support is required for the practise of minimum soil disturbance than for crop rotation and area allocated to CA. The study found no significant difference in adoption of CA principles between male and female farmers, although female farmers adopted two or more CA principles than male farmers. Despite this, female adopters had significantly lower yields from their CA fields than male farmers. The study also found that a significantly higher number of poor farmers adopted two principles (which involved the practice of minimum soil disturbance with either soil cover or crop rotation) than rich farmers. No significant difference between the rich and the poor were found in the adoption of the principle of minimum soil disturbance and adoption of all three CA principles. However, more poor households adopted the minimum soil disturbance principle, while more rich farmers adopted all three CA principles. The conclusions drawn for these findings are that the effects of the social system components and institutional factors on the uptake of CA depend on how the particular CA principle fits into the social and institutional environment and if the CA principle can be adapted to the local environment. The lack of significant effect of social influence on adoption of CA principles suggested that other factors within the social system, such as alternative sources of information, trust, technology complexity or community values may prohibit social learning. The study recommends agriculture extension services and policymakers to pay more attention to these issues in the promotion of CA by addressing the barriers and adapting CA to local contexts. The study also concluded that the deliberate targeting of the poor and women can help them adopt CA principles. However, there is still need to address challenges that may limit poor farmers from adopting the full CA package; and women from achieving high CA yields. / Thesis (PhD (Rural Development))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / PhD (Rural Development) / Unrestricted

A major goal for Mongolia is to eliminate rural poverty through sustainable rural development. To accomplish this, the agricultural sector must become more profitable and sustainable. Declining crop yields can be addressed by the adoption of new technology. Barriers to introduction of new agricultural technologies were evaluated using an inter-disciplinary perspective.<p> Field research was carried out to understand the factors affecting Mongolian farmers decisions to adopt conservation farming practices. A semi-structured survey questionnaire was completed by 42 farmers and 30 extension agents and in-depth interviews were conducted with ten adopter-farmers in Mongolia. The introduction of conservation tillage was used to illustrate a technology transfer system and the challenges it poses.<p> To most of the farmers, the main advantages of this technology were reduced soil erosion, increased cost efficiency, and higher crop yields. The main disadvantages found were high investment costs, unreliable input supply, and a lack of knowledge of the technology. Factors that encourage adoption of new technologies include government financial incentives, reduced labor requirements, and increased production due to better soil and water conservation. A lack of investment capital, required inputs, and relevant knowledge were all identified as barriers for the utilization of such new technologies. In general, early adopters and non-adopters of conservation tillage differed in that the early adopters tended to have more farmland, livestock, and equipment. The field studies in Mongolia were complemented by field research trials in Canada that evaluated new technologies for weed control in conservation tillage systems.<p> One key to the successful adoption of new agriculture technologies is an effective and responsive research and extension system. Currently, for Mongolian farmers and extension agents, international projects are the main source of information with respect to new agricultural technologies. The capacity of local research and extension institutions is fairly limited. It will be important to establish better linkages among 3 researchers, extension agents, farmers, and policy makers through reorganization and strengthening of Mongolias top-down research and extension system. Meaningful farmer participation must take place at all stages of any technology transfer process.<p> Based on these principles, an interdisciplinary, inclusive, and responsive national agricultural research and extension model is proposed.

A major goal for Mongolia is to eliminate rural poverty through sustainable rural development. To accomplish this, the agricultural sector must become more profitable and sustainable. Declining crop yields can be addressed by the adoption of new technology. Barriers to introduction of new agricultural technologies were evaluated using an inter-disciplinary perspective.<p> Field research was carried out to understand the factors affecting Mongolian farmers decisions to adopt conservation farming practices. A semi-structured survey questionnaire was completed by 42 farmers and 30 extension agents and in-depth interviews were conducted with ten adopter-farmers in Mongolia. The introduction of conservation tillage was used to illustrate a technology transfer system and the challenges it poses.<p> To most of the farmers, the main advantages of this technology were reduced soil erosion, increased cost efficiency, and higher crop yields. The main disadvantages found were high investment costs, unreliable input supply, and a lack of knowledge of the technology. Factors that encourage adoption of new technologies include government financial incentives, reduced labor requirements, and increased production due to better soil and water conservation. A lack of investment capital, required inputs, and relevant knowledge were all identified as barriers for the utilization of such new technologies. In general, early adopters and non-adopters of conservation tillage differed in that the early adopters tended to have more farmland, livestock, and equipment. The field studies in Mongolia were complemented by field research trials in Canada that evaluated new technologies for weed control in conservation tillage systems.<p> One key to the successful adoption of new agriculture technologies is an effective and responsive research and extension system. Currently, for Mongolian farmers and extension agents, international projects are the main source of information with respect to new agricultural technologies. The capacity of local research and extension institutions is fairly limited. It will be important to establish better linkages among 3 researchers, extension agents, farmers, and policy makers through reorganization and strengthening of Mongolias top-down research and extension system. Meaningful farmer participation must take place at all stages of any technology transfer process.<p> Based on these principles, an interdisciplinary, inclusive, and responsive national agricultural research and extension model is proposed.

In South Africa, maize is grown all over the country under various environments including both dry and irrigated agriculture. The majority of maize farmers are smallholders farming on small pieces of land with low input technologies. Additionally, South Africa`s smallholder maize farmers are characterised by low maize productivity, this is despite of the availability of many improved maize varieties on the market. It is clear that professional maize breeders are continuously developing many superior maize varieties with traits more suitable for the commercial farming sector than the smallholder sector. Against this background, this study used a descriptive statistics approach to find out maize varieties and traits preferred by smallholder farmers. The study also evaluated factors that influence smallholder farmers` maize varietal selection choice using descriptive statistics and multinomial regression. The data used for the empirical analysis was obtained from a survey of 200 smallholder farmers in Mhlontlo Local Municipality, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

In 2013, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Republic of Ghana implemented a reformed food and agriculture sector development policy (FASDEP II) to reduce poverty among the poorest subsistence farmers in the nation. These extension efforts have been unsuccessful. The purpose of this ethnographic case study was to understand the perceptions of subsistence farmers in the Savelugu-Nanton District (SND) who participated in FASDEP II on how the program had affected their ability to meet their subsistence needs. The theoretical framework of collaborative advantage was used to analyze farmers' opinions of how the decentralized, pluralistic extension policy did or did not result in effective collaborations to benefit both farmers and support organizations. Data from unstructured interviews with 12 male farmers, selected through purposeful sampling, were analyzed by inductive coding and thematic analysis. Farmers' perspectives were confirmed through observations at a public farmers' meeting and a review of operations documents of Busaka, a FASDEP II agribusiness partner. Key findings indicated that the current pluralistic extension lacked the characteristics of collaborative advantage and farmers continued to face challenges in access to farming inputs, credit, climate change effects, and cronyism. Farmers perceived the system was more beneficial to large-scale farmers. Positive social change implications of this study include identifying factors to improve effective pluralistic extension for subsistence farmers, the poorest persons in SND; improving the financial conditions of these subsistence farmers through more sustained and equitable partner collaboration; and contributing to the economic development of SND.

Institute for Rural Development / MRDV