The notion of adoption is central to efforts to measure technological change in African agriculture, and plays an important role in the evaluation of return on investment in agricultural research and technology development. However, the adoption concept, as it is commonly used in both the literature and development research practice, is seriously flawed and leads to inaccurate and misleading conclusions. The authors outline a design specification for a replacement concept that would provide a better basis for robust empirical research on the economic, social and environmental impacts of investment in agricultural technology development and promotion. They propose that this new concept can contribute to a better and more nuanced understanding of the impacts of technology development interventions.
AnderssonJ.D'SouzaS. (2014), ‘From adoption claims to understanding farmers and contexts: A literature review of Conservation Agriculture (CA) adoption among smallholder farmers in southern Africa’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol 187, pp 116–132.
2.
BarrJ.ChristieA. (2015), Improving the Practice of Value for Money Assessment, CDI Practice Paper 12, IDS, Brighton.
3.
BerkhoutE.GloverD.KuyvenhovenA. (2015), ‘On-farm impact of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI): Evidence and knowledge gaps’, Agricultural Systems, Vol 132, pp 157–166.
CraneT.A. (2014), ‘Bringing science and technology studies into agricultural anthropology: Technology development as cultural encounter between farmers and researchers’, Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment, Vol 36, No 1, pp 45–55.
6.
de JanvryA.DunstanA.SadouletE. (2011), Recent Advances in Impact Analysis Methods for Ex-post Impact Assessments of Agricultural Technology: Options for the CGIAR, CGIAR ISPC, Rome.
7.
DufloE.C.KremerM.R.RobinsonJ.M. (2008), ‘How high are rates of return to fertilizer? Evidence from field experiments in Kenya’, American Economic Review Papers (Papers and Proceedings Issue), Vol 98, pp 422–488.
8.
FederG.JustR.E.ZilbermanD. (1985), ‘Adoption of agricultural innovations in developing countries: A survey’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol 33, pp 255–298.
9.
FederG.UmaliD.L. (1993), ‘The adoption of agricultural innovations – a review’, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol 43, pp 215–239.
10.
GillerK.E.AnderssonJ.A.CorbeelsM.KirkegaardJ.A.MortensenD.ErensteinO.VanlauweB. (2015), ‘Beyond conservation agriculture’, Frontiers in Plant Science, Vol 6, p 870.
11.
HogerdornJ.S. (1975), ‘Economic initiative and African cash farming: Pre-colonial origins and early developments’, in DuignanP.GannL.H., eds, Colonialism in Africa 1870–1960: Volume 4, The Economics of Colonialism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
12.
JansenK.VellemaS. (2011), ‘What is technography?’NJAS – Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences, Vol 57, Nos 3–4, pp 169–177.
13.
LoevinsohnM.SumbergJ.DiagneA. (2012), Under What Circumstances and Conditions Does Adoption of Technology Result in Increased Agricultural Productivity? Protocol, EPPI Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.
14.
LoevinsohnM.SumbergM.DiagneA.WhitfieldS. (2013), Under What Circumstances and Conditions Does Adoption of Technology Result in Increased Agricultural Productivity? A Systematic Review, IDS, Brighton.
15.
MastersW.A.BedingarT.OehmkeJ.F. (1998), ‘The impact of agricultural research in Africa: Aggregate and case study evidence’, Agricultural Economics, Vol 19, Nos 1–2, pp 81–86.
16.
RenkowM.ByerleeD. (2010), ‘The impacts of CGIAR research: A review of recent evidence’, Food Policy, Vol 35, No 5, pp 391–402.
17.
RogersE.M. (2003), Diffusion of Innovations, Free Press, New York.
18.
SenD. (2015), ‘How smallholder farmers in Uttarakhand reworked the System of Rice Intensification: Innovations from sociotechnical interactions in fields and villages’, PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen.
19.
SundingD.ZilbermanD. (2001), ‘The agricultural innovation process: Research and technology adoption in a changing agricultural sector’, in GardnerB.L.RausserG.C., eds, Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Volume 1A, Elsevier, Philadelphia, PA, pp 207–261.
20.
ThakurA.K.UphoffN.T.StoopW.A. (2016), ‘Chapter Four – Scientific underpinnings of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI): What is known so far?’ in SparksD.L., ed, Advances in Agronomy, Academic Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 147–179.
21.
WalkerT.AleneA.NdjeungaJ.LabartaR.YigezuY.DiagneA.AndradeR.AndriatsitohainaR.M.De GrooteH.MauschK.YirgaC.SimtoweF.KatungE.JogoW.JaletaM.PandeyS. (2014), Measuring the Effectiveness of Crop Improvement Research in Sub-Saharan Africa from the Perspectives of Varietal Output, Adoption, and Change: 20 Crops, 30 Countries, and 1150 Cultivars in Farmers' Fields. Synthesis Report for Objectives 1 and 2 of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Diffusion and Impact of Improved Varieties in Africa (DIIVA) Project, CGIAR, Rome.
22.
YudelmanM. (1975), ‘Imperialism and the transfer of agricultural techniques’, in DuignanP.GannL.H., eds, Colonialism in Africa 1870–1960: Volume 4, The Economics of Colonialism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
