Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Some of the factors that have been demonstrated to be useful for understanding
adoption of soil and water conservation within lesser-scale societies are as follows:
availability of information about soil and water conservation production systems,
awareness that existing farm production systems contribute to degradation of soil
and water resources, availability of economic resources that can be used to adopt
conservation production systems at the farm level, availability of institutional struc-
tures to provide requisite resources to implement conservation production systems
at the farm level, public policies that make it possible for land managers to benefit
from investments made in conservation production systems, institutional means for
controlling population expansion, availability of government programs designed to
reduce poverty, availability of markets so that incentives exist to efficiently produce
food and fiber, availability of conservation production technologies at the local level,
government investment in conservation infrastructures, and characteristics of the
farm manager and farm enterprise (El-Swaify 1997; Napier et al. 1994; Napier 2010).
Each of these factors will be discussed in the context of how they facilitate and/or
impede the adoption of soil and water conservation production systems within lesser-
scale societies. These factors are discussed in the context of the traditional diffusion
model that has been shown to have utility for predicting adoption of innovations* in
diverse socioenvironmental situations.
15.3
DIFFUSION MODEL FOR CONSERVATION
DECISION MAKING
15.3.1 s
teps
in
the
d
iFFusion
M
odel
One of the most significant paradigms for understanding the decision-making process
associated with adoption of innovations is the Traditional Diffusion Model (Cockerill
and Napier 2010; Napier 1991; Rogers 2003). This model has been employed exten-
sively to examine the adoption process associated with a host of innovations within
lesser-scale societies throughout the world. The traditional diffusion model basically
argues that potential adopters of any innovation must become aware that a problem
exists before they will consider changing existing behavioral patterns. The model
asserts that potential adopters must be provided information about the existence of
problems created by the use of existing behavioral practices and be provided infor-
mation about potential solutions. Once potential adopters have been made aware of
existing problems and possible solutions, many factors affect the ultimate decision
to adopt specific action options.
One of the most important factors affecting adoption of a specific innovation is
attitude toward the innovation being considered for adoption. Attitudes about spe-
cific innovations are formulated via access to information that demonstrates the
potential utility of the innovation being considered. Information about how a specific
innovation will affect identified problems will facilitate decision making because
*
An innovation is defined as any technology, technique, object, or cultural component that is perceived
to be new to a potential adopter. Although something may have been in existence for decades, it can be
perceived as an innovation to those who have never encountered it before.
