Suchergebnisse

In the West Usambara Mountains Tanzania, the problem of soil erosion and depletion of water resources will continue to be a phenomenon that contributes in the reduction of crop production and increase household poverty, if adoption of conservation practices on soil and water is not effective. In this region particularly in Lushoto District, farmers have been disseminated with improved soil and water conservation practices including bench terraces, cut-off drains, planting of trees, planting of improved grasses, contour farming and mulching by the Tanzania government and other organization dealing with development of agriculture. This study assessed socio-economic factors affecting the intensity of adaption of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices in Lushoto District in the West Usambara Mountains. The study used a cross-sectional design whereby the quantitative approach was used. Simple random sampling was used to select four villages including Mambo, Tema, Nkelei and Emao of Lushoto District which are located on hillslope of the West Usambara Mountains. A sample of 100 households involving in farming activities was picked by simple random whereby adult household members were the respondents. Survey method was used for data collection by using structured questionnaire. The findings show that adoption intensity of SWC practices ranged from 1 to 6 practices. The average number of adopted practices was 4. By using SPSS computer software, data was analysed through multiple linear regression to revealed socio-economic factors affecting adoption intensity of SWC practices. The study found that technical training (β=0.835, p=0.001), extension service (β=0.381, p=0.032) and land size (β=0.511, p=0.017) were significant and positive related to adoption intensity of SWC practices. The study concludes that land size is influencing high investment in SWC among farmers whereas access to technical training and extension services to famers influences conservation of mountainous agricultural lands. This study recommends government and agricultural development partners to provide more training on SWC in agriculture and improve extension services particularly by employing more extension workers.

Agri-environmental schemes are the main policy instrument currently available in the EU to promote environmentally friendly farming practices. Nevertheless, the adoption rate of these measures is still limited. This paper develops a theoretical framework to explain farmer sign-up decision and tests whether factors affecting this decision differ depending on the level of requirements of each measure.The model is tested with two different AES in Spain which imply low and high farm management changes. Technical factors are found to be most relevant when significant farm practice changes are at stake while the role of farmer characteristics is significant when minor changes are required. In both cases, social capital and farmer attitudes still explain part of the sign-up decision. In order to increase adoption rates, different promotion activities should be undertaken according to different measures, increasing technical suitability when major changes are at stake and enhancing social capital and better targeting to relevant farmers for measures with lower requirements.

Agri-environmental schemes are the main policy instrument currently available in the EU to promote environmentally friendly farming practices. Nevertheless, the adoption rate of these measures is still limited. This paper develops a theoretical framework to explain farmer sign-up decision and tests whether factors affecting this decision differ depending on the level of requirements of each measure. The model is tested with two different AES in Spain which imply low and high farm management changes. Technical factors are found to be most relevant when significant farm practice changes are at stake while the role of farmer characteristics is significant when minor changes are required. In both cases, social capital and farmer attitudes still explain part of the sign-up decision. In order to increase adoption rates, different promotion activities should be undertaken according to different measures, increasing technical suitability when major changes are at stake and enhancing social capital and better targeting to relevant farmers for measures with lower requirements.

AbstractThe United States is experiencing growing impacts of climate change but currently receives a limited policy response from its national leadership. Within this policy void, many state governments are stepping up and taking action on adaptation planning. Yet we know little about why some states adopt State Adaptation Plans (SAPs), while others do not. This article investigates factors that predict the emergence of SAPs, both in terms of policy adoption and policy intensity (goal ambitiousness). Applying the diffusion of innovation theory, I consider the relative influence of internal state characteristics, regional pressures, and test for conditional effects between government ideologies and severity of the problem. The results show interesting differences between predictors that influence policy adoption and ambitiousness. States are more motivated to adopt a policy when faced with greater climate vulnerability, have more liberal citizenry, and where governments have crossed policy hurdles by previously passing mitigation plans. The intensity of policies and goal setting, moreover, is more likely to be driven by interest group politics and diffuse through policy learning or sharing information among neighboring states in Environmental Protection Agency regions. These findings support an emerging scholarship that uses more complex dependent variables in policy analysis. These variables have the potential to differentiate symbolic from substantive policies and capture finer information about predictors of importance.

Considerable attention has been directed toward developing a more complete understanding of innovation adoption by Information Systems (IS) departments. Much of this research has focused on the adoption of technological innovations, and limited research has focused on the adoption of administrative innovations. This paper focuses on an administrative innovation that is increasingly becoming popular among IS departments, namely Total Quality Management (TQM) in systems development. A synthesis of the IS innovation and TQM literatures was conducted to identify environmental, organizational, and task‐related factors that should relate to both the swiftness and the intensity of TQM adoption. The relationships between the identified variables and TQM adoption were examined using data collected from 123 IS departments in Fortune 1000 firms and large government agencies in the U.S. The results indicate that TQM adoption in systems development is influenced by the host organization's quality orientation and factors internal to the IS department including IS management support for quality, the presence of a separate quality assurance function, and the structural complexity of the IS department. Implications of this study for theory, future research, and practice are discussed.

Extension services play a crucial role by improving skills and access to information that result in greater farm level innovations, especially on family farms which are the predominant form of agriculture in the world. This study analyzed the connection between strategies implemented by extension services and technology adoption on family farms. Using the case of the Servicio de Asesorí ; a Té ; cnica (SAT) Program, we developed a bottom-up adoption index (AI) for vegetable and berry farmers in three regions of Central Chile. We implemented 10 focus groups totaling 101 participants, all recipients of technical assistance from private extension companies (PECs) funded by the SAT Program. After the focus group sessions, we surveyed participating farmers to gather information on socio-economic attributes and adopted technologies. Using cluster analysis, we identified three groups of farmers according to their adoption intensity. The results indicate that extension strategies used by PECs have distinct effects on the adoption of new technologies. Higher adoption indexes were positively associated with the duration of the extension visits, the number of group activities, and the use of incentives and credits provided by the Chilean government. The value of production and farm size were positively associated with adoption intensity.