Technological expectations and adoption of improved technology

Attention is focused upon the adoption (demand) rather than the creation (supply) of new technology, which improves from time to time. Based on the expected flow of technological progress over which the firm (demander) has no control, it must decide either to adopt the current best available technology or to postpone adoption. The distinguishing features of the model are that more than one technological innovation is anticipated and expectations about the likelihood of such innovations are revised as time passes since the last innovation. Our analysis shows that the firm will adopt the current best practice if its technological lag exceeds a certain threshold; moreover, as time passes without new technological advances it may become profitable to purchase a technology that has been available even though it was not profitable to do so in the past. [1]


Adoption of improved maize varieties in Southern Ethiopia: Factors and strategy options

This paper identifies factors that influence the decision behavior of farmers in Southern Ethiopia in adopting improved maize varieties by estimating a logistic regression. Data for this study came from 222 farmers interviewed as part of a national adoption survey conducted in three selected maize growing administrative zones of Southern Ethiopia in 1998. The paper also assesses the impact of pure and mixed strategy options on the probability of adoption of improved maize varieties through simulation under different scenarios. As far as pure strategies are concerned, the credit strategy is more powerful than the others in terms of raising the probability of adoption. However, results from the analysis of pure versus mixed strategies imply that mixed strategies are no necessarily much better than pure strategies.[2]


Adoption of improved wheat varieties and impacts on household food security in Ethiopia

This article evaluates the impact of the adoption of improved wheat varieties on food security using a recent nationally-representative dataset of over 2000 farm households in Ethiopia. We adopted endogenous switching regression treatment effects complemented with a binary propensity score matching methodology to test robustness and reduced selection bias stemming from both observed and unobserved characteristics. We expand this further with the generalized propensity score (GPS) approach to evaluate the effects of continuous treatment on the response of the outcome variables. We find a consistent result across models indicating that adoption increases food security and farm households that did adopt would also have benefited significantly had they adopted new varieties. This study supports the need for vital investments in agricultural research for major food staples widely consumed by the poor, and efforts to improve access to modern varieties and services. Policies that enhance diffusion and adoption of modern wheat varieties should be central to food security strategies in Ethiopia. [3]


Extent of Adoption of Improved Animal Husbandry Practices by Dairy Farmers of Morar Block in Gwalior District

Recent advances in animal husbandry technologies have demonstrated potential for maximization of milk productivity and all these requires adoption of improved technologies. The present study was conducted to assess the extent of adoption of improved animal husbandry practices by dairy farmers of Morar Block in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh. Simple random sampling method was used to select 120 dairy farmers as respondents. The findings revealed that reproductive practices like artificial insemination at proper time of heat with semen of good bull was regularly adopted by 80.00 per cent of the dairy farmers, regarding nutritional practices provision of ad libitum clean and fresh water was regularly adopted by 85.00 per cent of dairy farmers, washing of hands and udder before milking was the management practices regularly adopted by 96.67 per cent of the farmers. To control disease, prompt reporting of outbreak of a contagious disease to the local veterinarian was adopted by 76.67 per cent of the dairy farmers. Marketing practice like obtaining loans from nationalised banks instead of private money lender to purchase inputs for dairy farming was continuously adopted by 63.34 per cent of the farmers. The final study reveals that 58.33 per cent of the respondents had medium level of adoption of improved animal husbandry practices.[4]



Analysis of the Constraints to the Adoption of Improved Fish Farming Technologies by Farmers in Yola North and South Local Government Areas of Adamawa State, Nigeria

The study analyzed the constraints to adoption of improved fish farming technologies by fish farmers in Yola North and South Local Government Areas of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Primary data which were obtained through the use of questionnaires and personal interview administered to 98 respondents were used for the study. The study revealed that ten technologies were available for the farmers in the study area. Results on the adoption of the technologies shows that site selection (soil testing) and preservation after harvesting (chilled storage) were the least adopted technologies by 2.0% of the respondents respectively. Pond maintenance and pond stocking with fish based on recommendation were the most widely adopted technologies by 73.5% and 89.8% of the respondents’ respectively. The result of the correlation analysis revealed a negative relationship at 5% level of significance between constraints and adoption of recommended fish farming technologies. Insufficient funds, high cost of feeds and inadequate extension visits were the major constraints faced by fish farmers in the study area. It is recommended that agricultural credit schemes should be pursued and implemented and supply of quality fish feeds should be facilitated by all stakeholders at the right time and controlled prices. Extension workers should rededicate their efforts towards dissemination of information and visiting farmers’ fish farms so as to supervise and advice on the best methods of fish farming.[5]


Reference

[1] Balcer, Y. and Lippman, S.A., 1984. Technological expectations and adoption of improved technology. Journal of Economic Theory, 34(2), pp.292-318.

[2] Feleke, S. and Zegeye, T., 2006. Adoption of improved maize varieties in Southern Ethiopia: Factors and strategy options. Food policy, 31(5), pp.442-457.

[3] Shiferaw, B., Kassie, M., Jaleta, M. and Yirga, C., 2014. Adoption of improved wheat varieties and impacts on household food security in Ethiopia. Food policy, 44, pp.272-284.

[4] Meena, N.C., Badodiya, S.K. and Biam, K.P., 2017. Extent of adoption of improved animal husbandry practices by dairy farmers of Morar Block in Gwalior District. Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, pp.1-8.

[5] Usman, I.S., Girei, A.A. and Tari, B.I., 2016. Analysis of the constraints to the adoption of improved fish farming technologies by farmers in Yola North and South Local Government Areas of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, pp.1-6.