The adoption of agricultural technology: a guide for survey design

Abstract

This manual presents methods for designing formal surveys that measure and analyze the adoption of agricultural technology. First it discusses the rationale for undertaking an adoption study and the issues involved in determining the study's audience and scope. The manual then reviews factors that influence adoption patterns and should be considered in designing the survey: farm resources (e.g., farm size) and farmer characteristics (e.g., age, gender, education), the farming systems, postharvest utilization and markets, and farmers' sources of information about new technology. Next, the organization of adoption surveys is discussed, giving attention to sampling issues and the timing of the survey as well as to overall survey design and implementation. The final section describes several analytical techniques that are useful for interpreting the results of adoption studies. Numerous examples from adoption studies conducted in Asia, Africa, and Latin America illustrate the main points.