A Case Study of the Diffusion of Agricultural Innovations in Chimaltenango, Guatemala (original) (raw)
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Diffusion of agricultural innovation through opinion leadership
International Journal of Business Management and Social Research
The aim of the study was to determine the role of opinion leadership in diffusion of agricultural innovation. The study was performed in the Alamdanga Upazila under Chuadanga district. Among the unions of Alamdanga Upazila Kalidaspur union has been selected as the study area. Fifty five farmers were randomly selected to explore the opinion leader. Thus 165 names of opinion leaders were found. After cross checking and deducted the duplicate name a list was prepared with 138 local leaders and communicate with them for interviewing and bring into being available 115. Among the respondents, the highest 54.80 percent respondent opinion leaders belongs to the group of lowest role in diffusion of agricultural innovation followed by 34.80 percent in moderate role group and the lowest percentage 10.40 percent n highest group in diffusion of agricultural innovation. Education level, extent of advice on adoption of agricultural innovation, innovativeness, organization participation, agricultural knowledge, motivational activities and diffusion network had significantly positive relationships with role of opinion leadership in diffusion of agricultural innovation. Annual income had no significant positive relationships with role of opinion leadership in diffusion of agricultural innovation. Besides, age and family size of the respondents had no significant negative relationship with role of opinion leadership in diffusion of agricultural 1 st and serve as center of inter personal communication network in positioned 10 th as per in case ofrole of opinion leadership in diffusion of agricultural innovation.
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Diffusion of innovation in agriculture is a complex process. The success of this process is governed by the various factors—technology characteristics, sociocultural factors, participation of stakeholders, and environment—that enable and sustain effective interaction between these stakeholders. Previous studies in technology diffusion in agriculture indicate that not all technologies that have their advantages over others and are compatible to users’ setting and simple and testable are adopted by end-users. When a technology is tested, the trial process also requires effective facilitation of change agents and opinion leaders combined with sufficient timing and financial support before the technology is eventually owned and adopted by the target users. In this chapter, using the theory of diffusion of innovation, we reviewed the success of two projects implemented by World Vision International in Vietnam under an adaptive research program funded by the Australian Centre for Internat...
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We can observed that opinion leaders tend to have access to mass media information and external contacts that provide them new ideas from outside. Additionally, the opinion leaders have greater contact with change agents, social participation, higher social status, and more innovativeness. Opinion leaders are used as role models in the adoption of innovations. This can be effective at the social and economic levels of the diffusion process. From the economic perspective of projects’ implementation when diffusing an innovation, opinion leaders multiply the efforts of the change agent, by carrying the message to more possible adopters. This translates into effectiveness by achieving more diffusion in less time. At the social level, once opinion leaders have adopted an innovation, that innovation acquires local sponsorship and credibility. Where, Opinion leaders are heterophilous individuals who observe and evaluate innovations proven by innovators. They are considered early adopters of culturally acceptable innovations and generally are opponents of culturally unacceptable ones. Once opinion leaders approve and adopt and innovation, it influences others in the group who also adopt the innovation to maintain a social and economic status among the social system. Leaders are important determinants of rapid and sustained change, as diffusion happens faster when it is initiated by them. They are considered the bridge between farmers and sources of innovations.
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Family farmers and grassroots innovations can enable transitions to more sustainable food systems. The study explores the roles umbrella farmers’ organizations play in building transformative capacity through grassroots innovations in rural food systems in Guatemala. An analytical framework based on the notion of transformative capacity and socio-technical transitions is used to explore the specific factors enabling and limiting the transformative potential of grassroots innovations in a rural setting. A case study in rural Huehuetenango, Guatemala is presented, using interviews and focus groups discussions with relevant stakeholders engaged in the development process. Perceptions from interviews and focus groups discussions highlight the catalyst role played by the umbrella farmers’ organization as the main enabling factor to increase transformative capacity of grassroots innovations. The umbrella organization plays a key role in enabling farmers to pursue socio-technical transform...
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Novel ideas and farming practices spread, and often enough even evolve, through interpersonal interaction and com- munication in rural communities. Facilitating cooperation and exchange among farmers becomes a core objective of most extension interventions. Farmers groups can play an active role to promote the diffusion of knowledge and tech- nologies and thus to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the technology extension efforts. This paper investigates the effect of structural and functional variables of farmers groups on the spread of agroforestry innovations among the group members. Specifically, it was hypothesized that (a) group cohesiveness, (b) group activity and (c) member motivation will each be positively related to the spread of the technologies among the group. Group social networks represent the main analytical level and units of analysis. The technology adoption behaviour of individ- ual farm households serves to operationalize the diffusion variable. Four full sa...