A longitudinal analysis of factors influencing increased technology adoption in Swaziland, 1985-1991

In: The journal of developing areas, Band 27, Heft 4, S. 469-484

Abstract

Technological change in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is necessary in any effort to obtain sustainable increases in food production. Yet, the diffusion of these technologies has not been rapid. A central question is why farmers are slow to adopt production-increasing technologies. This paper argues that technology adoption, rather than being an event, is best seen as a process shaped by a multitude of changing factors. The paper offers insight into this process by determining those socioeconomic factors associated with farm-level changes in the rates of adoption of selected technologies over time. Factors investigated include farm size, farm labour, input and output prices, capital availability, education, risk and uncertainty, and draft animal ownership. The study employs data gathered in 1985, 1988 and 1991 through three separate surveys of 85 households to examine maize technology adoption in Swaziland between 1985 and 1991. (Documentatieblad/ASC Leiden)