Informational Inefficiencies Possible SolutionProblem Farmers will only adopt technologies they are aware of. A farmer’s choice to adopt a new technology requires several types of information. The farmer must know that the technology exists; she must know that the technology is beneficial; and she must know how to use it effectively. These types of information may come from different sources: From external sources, such as agricultural extension workers and markets; From observing the decisions and experiences of neighbors; and From the farmer’s own experience. Sources of Information External sources of information, such as extension workers, may be particularly important for the adoption of new technologies. Though many farmers cite extension workers as an important source of information about agricultural technologies, not all extension workers are motivated to do their job well. Many lack incentives to perform well because they are not monitored and are not rewarded for good work nor held accountable for shirking their responsibilities. In addition, extension workers may under serve disadvantaged groups such as women and minorities. Other farmers are also an important source of information about new technologies. Studies on technology adoption in fields other than agriculture show that individuals learn from others within their social network. The results are mixed, however: adoption by one’s peers can make adoption more likely,1 less likely2 or have no effect3. Learning from others can result in a less rapid spread of technology if social networks are small or if the benefits of a technology are hard to observe. Examples include technologies for slow growing crops that take multiple seasons to mature or technologies that require considerable customization for a farmer’s particular growing conditions. Learning from Personal Experience One study of fertilizer adoption in Kenya showed that intensive information provision by extension workers had a bigger effect on adoption than did information spread among peers.4 In this setting, farmers learn how to use the technology rather than learning about whether or not it is beneficial. The authors find that learning by trial and error, in this case, did increase adoption significantly over the short run, though not as much as extension services. Even more puzzling is that farmers stopped using the beneficial fertilizer even after experiencing its benefits. Given that the relative importance of different sources of information is likely to vary across technologies and contexts, understanding this difference can help improve the effectiveness of interventions which seek to provide farmers with information to promote technology adoption. Research suggests that the way information is presented (who provides the information, how much information is given and in what form) can be as important as the content of the information itself. For example, presenting information in different ways (i.e. framing) can have large effects on decision making. While framing appears to have large effects in some settings, research on the adoption of weather insurance in India shows that framing is much less important than other factors, such as the price of the insurance.5 Information about a technology is, of course, only one of many factors that affect whether or not a farmer will adopt the technology
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 08:52:50 +0000
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