Network effect: A mechanism for the acceptance of orange-fleshed sweetpotato among rural households in Uganda (original) (raw)
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2014
Literature on the adoption of agricultural innovations highlights the importance exposure to these technologies for the adoption decision of small scale farmers. This study assesses the relevance of exposure and other constraints in the adoption of improved sorghum and maize cultivars in Central Tanzania. Specifically, we analyze the determinants of exposure to improved varieties; and of adoption itself, focusing more on the role of social networks. We use survey data collected from 345 farmers between September and November 2012. We apply Poisson models to assess exposure, and average treatment effect procedures to analyze adoption. Our results show that about 79% and 74% of the respondents are exposed to at least one improved variety of sorghum and maize respectively. The average intensity of exposure (number of improved cultivars a farmer is exposed to) was 1.7 for sorghum and 1.8 for maize. Farmer networks are found to be a key source of variety information, and exchange of this...
Agriculture and Human Values, 2014
Social networks play a significant role in learning and thus in farmers' adoption of new agricultural technologies. This study examined the effects of social network factors on information acquisition and adoption of new seed varieties among groundnut farmers in Uganda and Kenya. The data were generated through face-to-face interviews from a random sample of 461 farmers, 232 in Uganda and 229 in Kenya. To assess these effects two alternative econometric models were used: a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit (SUBP) model and a recursive bivariate probit (RBP) model. The statistical evaluation of the SUBP shows that information acquisition and adoption decisions are interrelated while tests for the RBP do not support this latter model. Therefore, the analysis is based on the results obtained from the SUBP. These results reveal that social network factors, particularly weak ties with external support (e.g., researchers, extension agents, etc.), partially influence information acquisition, but do not influence adoption. In Uganda, external support, gender, farm size, and geographic location have an impact on information acquisition. In Kenya, external support and geographic location also have an impact on information acquisition. With regard to adoption, gender, household size, and geographic location play the most important roles for Ugandan farmers, while in Kenya information from external sources, education, and farm size affect adoption choice. The study provides insight on the importance of external weak ties in groundnut farming, and a need to understand regional differences along gender lines while developing agricultural strategies. This study further illustrates the importance of farmer participation in applied technology research and the impact of social interactions among farmers and external agents.
We use data from a partial population experiment to examine how Ugandan farmers access and learn about a new agricultural technology from farmers in their information networks. The experiment introduced the vitamin A-rich orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) to participating farmer groups 48 communities in Uganda. In each community, members of exactly one farmer group were offered propagable OFSP vines and trainings on OFSP cultivation. We study OFSP diffusion to nearby farmers who are not members of the participating farmer group (whom we call nonmembers). We use experimentally-induced variation in the number and density of nonmember’s treated information neighbors, conditional on measures of network size, to identify the effects of increased information and resources within a network on OFSP diffusion. Nonmembers with at least one treated information neighbor are more likely to adopt OFSP. In contrast, among nonmembers who adopted OFSP in the intervention’s first season, those with ...
African Journal of Rural Development, 2018
The vitamin A bio-fortified sweetpotato, commonly known as the Orange-Fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP) is an important food for fighting vitamin A deficiency in Uganda, particularly in rural households, although its use remains low. This study investigated the role of risk perceptions in rural households' decisions to grow OFSP. Data were derived from a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 341 male and female household heads randomly selected from two rural districts of Uganda. Scaling and factor analyses verified data reliability and construct validity, after which multiple regression analyses tested hypothesized relationships. Gender differences were tested. Results found that risk perceptions encouraged rural household heads to grow the OFSP (F=3.937, p<.001, Adjusted R 2 = 0.102). Further, perceived risks were motivators and perceived effectiveness of control might be the feasible path to sustained cultivation. Although male and female farmers differed, a stronger estimation was obtained when the entire sample was tested. In sum, information dissemination programmes targeting household heads using media campaigns should disseminate messages to at-risk households regarding the feasibility of OFSP cultivation and consumption to reduce vitamin A deficiency.
Advances in Agricultural Science, 2019
This study sought to assess the role of multi-dimensional beliefs in acceptance of orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) as an important food for fighting micronutrient deficiencies among rural households in Uganda. Cross-sectional survey data gathered from 341 randomly selected household heads drawn from two districts were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Post hoc tests indicate that multi-dimensional beliefs (resilience in the field (MD=0.442, p<.05), dry matter content (MD=0.90, p<.05) and control over timely access to labor (MD=0.45, p<.05) significantly enhanced farmers' decisions to try OFSP cultivation. From trial to sustained cultivation, actions of peers (MD=1.57, p<.001); and control over timely access to labor, (MD=0.55, p<.05), availability of OFSP vines (MD=0.88, p<.001) and control over access to other OFSP farmers (MD=0.63, p<.001) revealed to be important variables. The results also suggest that multi-dimensional beliefs (actions of peers, (MD=1.17, p<.001), approval of peers (MD=1.00, p<.001), control over access to OFSP vines (MD=0.67, p<.001) and control over access to other OFSP farmers (MD=0.70, p<.01)), are vital in supporting farmers to maintain their decisions to cultivate OFSP. We conclude that farmers' multi-dimensional beliefs are important in the cultivation of OFSP, and farmers' advancement along each acceptance stage demands for different sets of beliefs. It is recommended that promotion efforts for OFSP and related crop enterprises pay attention to decision-makers' beliefs.
2018
This study uses a randomized saturation experiment and influential technology promoters to test strategies to promote diffusion of two highly nutritious agricultural crop technologies in Uganda to measure which approaches are most cost-effective at achieving high adoption rates. The crops are conventionally bred varieties of vitamin-A-rich orange sweet potato (OSP) and high-iron biofortified beans (HIB), distributed as an intervention to reduce vitamin A deficiency and anemia. The experiment included four treatment arms: three levels of randomized saturation of households with the crop technologies (control-0%, low20%, and high-50%) and a treatment in which opinion leaders in farming and health identified through an election were invited to promote the technologies. Results show that being assigned to treatment in either the low or high saturation substantially increased the average probability of adopting the crops over the five seasons of the project and increased spillovers to ne...
Journal of Agricultural Extension, 2020
This study examined the role of social-cognitive factors in farmers' decisions to cultivate orange-fleshed sweetpotato as a food-based approach to alleviating vitamin A deficiency among rural households in Uganda. Cross-sectional survey data collected from 341 randomly selected household level decision-makers drawn from two rural districts in Uganda were analysed using hierarchical regression. Perceived capability and perceived social approval significantly predicted household decisions to grow orange-fleshed sweet potato (p≤0.001). Overall, decision-makers' subjective norms and control beliefs were found to be significant mediators (p≤0.01) of the orange-fleshed sweet potato acceptance process. These results point to a cardinal role for processes that create supportive social and cognitive environments in promoting the cultivation of bio-fortified technologies such as orange-fleshed sweet potato.
Social networks and farmer exposure to improved crop varieties in Tanzania
2014
In Sub-Sahara Africa, adoption rates of improved crop varieties remain relatively low, which is partly due to farmers’ limited access to information. In smallholder settings, information often spreads through informal networks. Better understanding of such networks could potentially help to spur innovation and farmers’ exposure to new technologies. This study uses survey data from Tanzania to analyze social networks and their role for the spread of information about improved varieties of maize and sorghum. Regression models show that network links for the exchange of agricultural information are more likely between farmers who have similar educational but different wealth levels. Moreover, network links are more likely when farmers have direct contacts to extension officers, suggesting that information flows through informal channels can support but not replace formal channels. Social networks play a significant role for the spread of information about open-pollinated varieties. Thi...
Social Networks and Farmer Exposure to Improved Cereal Varieties in Central Tanzania
2014
This study uses probit and Poisson models to analyse the determinants of social network links for the exchange of information among 345 cereal farmers and the effects of social networks on farmer exposure to improved varieties in Central Tanzania. Results show that network links are determined by education, wealth, association membership, geographical proximity, kinship ties, community leadership role, and links to extension officers. Further, farmer networks positively affect the intensity of exposure to seed technologies with mostly missing or malfunctioning markets. Moreover, it is information networks outside a farmer’s village, rather those inside the village, that determine intensity of exposure.
Biofortification, crop adoption and health information: Impact pathways in Mozambique and Uganda
2012
Biofortification, breeding staple food crops to be dense sources of essential micronutrients, is fast emerging as a strategy to fight micronutrient malnutrition. Large scale biofortification investments are being made in several developing countries, but until recently little rigorous evidence about the impact of these investments has been available. In this paper, we report findings from randomized impact evaluations conducted in both Mozambique and Uganda to study the impact of large-scale pilot projects conducted between 2006 and 2009 to introduce provitamin-A-rich orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) as a strategy to reduce vitamin A deficiency. In both countries, projects randomly assigned interventions of di↵erent cost and intensity to distribute OFSP vines, train households to grow OFSP, and disseminate the health benefits of vitamin A. We compare the impact of the interventions within and across the two countries on OFSP adoption, knowledge about vitamin A, and dietary intake of vitamin A by children, and use causal mediation analysis to examine the impact pathways on vitamin A consumption. After two years of intervention, in both countries the project led to OFSP adoption rates of 61-68 percent among project households, improved household knowledge about vitamin A, and nearly doubled average dietary intake of vitamin A, with no di↵erence between the more and less intense intervention models. Evidence suggests that vine access played the most important role in explaining the impact on vitamin A consumption in both countries. Consequently, future programs can be designed to have similar impacts at even lower costs.