Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to adopt and use new conservation production systems. These conclusions strongly
support the diffusion model as developed for this discussion because all of these fac-
tors affect the ability of the potential adopter to implement a decision to adopt new
conservation production systems.
Research reported by Fujisaka (1999) and McDonald and Brown (2000) focused
on conservation adoption among farmers in the Misamis Oriental Province of the
Philippines. Study findings revealed that adoption occurred for some types of
conservation practices; however, many conservation production systems were not
adopted. Contour farming was adopted and used but trenching and bunds were
never adopted because of the labor required to develop them. Green manures
were not adopted because farmers did not have an interest in using this approach.
A-frames were adopted and used to construct contours because the frames were
easy to build and, once constructed, required little human skill to effectively
use. Most plant species that were recommended for hedgerow construction were
rejected. Preference was given to local weeds to form the hedgerows. The reasons
given for this decision were that local weeds retarded runoff better and did not
require as much land to be permanently retired from production. Farmer-to-farmer
communication and training was the method used to continue the conservation
program after the project was discontinued.
Adoption research findings produced in the Philippines support the traditional dif-
fusion model. Access to information, technical assistance, and economic resources
were shown to be significant factors in bringing about adoption of new conservation
production systems among small-scale farmers. Adoption of conservation production
systems was facilitated by access to land tenure and by access to extension service
personnel. Lack of awareness of the need for conservation and the environmental
consequences of land degradation acted as barriers to adoption and/or continued use
of soil and water conservation production systems at the farm level.
Another study focused on evaluations of SALT was conducted in the Hindu-Kush-
Himalayan region of Asia (McDonald and Brown 2000; Tang 1999) and revealed
that SALT production systems were only adopted in two countries in the region.
Some adoption occurred in Bangladesh and China. However, adoption was slow
and the rate of adoption was low. Factors shown to influence adoption were lack of
understanding of how the SALT system functioned and lack of awareness of envi-
ronmental problems resulting from soil erosion of cropland. Tang (1999) argues that
lack of government investment in communication systems and the development of an
extension service for people within the region are the primary reasons why adoption
is so low. Another factor influencing adoption was lack of demonstrations of the posi-
tive and/or negative impacts of SALT for individual farmers. It is argued that lack
of awareness of possible outcomes and uncertainties attached to the outcomes act
as barriers to adoption. Farmers are unwilling to adopt any new production system
when they are not certain about what will be the advantages and/or disadvantages
associated with adoption.
Research focused on the adoption of conservation tillage systems in Mongolia
was conducted by Lafond et al. (2009), and the findings are quite similar to those
associated with the adoption of all technology-intensive production systems in lesser-
scale societies. The authors discovered that the primary factors influencing adoption
