Social network effects on the adoption of sustainable natural resource management practices in Ethiopia

Abstract

Soil loss, nutrient depletion and land degradation contribute to the skimpy performance of smallholder agriculture and pose serious policy challenges in developing countries. Surprisingly, natural resource management practices that enhance sustainability while improving productivity have not been fully adopted despite continuous efforts of promotion. Using data collected from 2901 farm households in the Farmers Innovation Fund (FIF) of the World Bank, this study examines factors delaying adoption of resource management and farming practices from the perspective of social learning and network size. Specifically, the study aims at identifying the extent to which differences in network structure matter in providing opportunities to learn about new ways of sustainable resource management practices using regression analysis. The result confirms that social network size plays a significant role in enhancing adoption of natural resource management practices. Moreover, external sources of information such as extension provision play a crucial role in enhancing adoption of resource management practices. Thus, future endeavours should link extension services to informal networks to enhance adoption of sustainable natural resource management practices.

Keywords:

• Ethiopia
• adoption and diffusion
• smallholder agriculture
• conservation
• soil erosion

Acknowledgements

The research project has been financially supported by the Dr. Hermann Eiselen PhD Grant from the Foundation Fiat Panis and the publication is an output of the scholarship from Food Security Center of the University of Hohenheim, which is part of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) program ‘exceed’ and is supported by DAAD and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Notes

^1. Kebele is the lowest administrative level in Ethiopia.

^2. Lem, Lem-Tef and Tef refers to fertile, moderate and infertile soil quality, respectively.

^3. Land tenure security is attained when the land is officially registered and the household has the right to transfer the land.