@article{ajrd2017532,
author={{Husen, Nizam A. and Loos, Tim K. and Siddig, Khalid H.A.},
title={Social Capital and Agricultural Technology Adoption among Ethiopian Farmers},
journal={American Journal of Rural Development},
volume={5},
number={3},
pages={65--72},
year={2017},
url={http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajrd/5/3/2},
issn={2333-4770},
abstract={Despite the recent efforts to increase agricultural productivity in Ethiopia, food insecurity remains a major challenge in the country. Improving smallholders¡ä productivity requires the adoption of suitable agricultural technologies and practices. Previous researches highlighted the importance of socio-economic factors; but widely overlooked the role of social capital in technology adoption and its potential to create collective actions, reduce transaction costs, relax supply side constraints, and disseminate information. Using socio-economic data of 398 farming households, the study assessed social capital as a determinant for soil and water conservation practices (SWC) such as terraces, bunds and agro-forestry as well as adopting productivity enhancing technologies (PET) such as fertilizers and improved high yielding seed varieties applying a probit model. The result showed that members of <i>Iddir </i>(informal funeral group) were more likely to adopt SWC (18.2%). For the case of PET, <i>Iddir </i>members were 12.8% less likely to adopt. Being members of <i>Jarsumma </i>(informal conflict resolution) increased the likelihood of SWC and PET adoption by 12.87% and 17.8%, respectively. Therefore, technology transfer should consider different types of social capital as an alternative policy option to the prevailing top down approaches in order to improve smallholder livelihoods.},
doi={10.12691/ajrd-5-3-2}
publisher={Science and Education Publishing}
}