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APPROACHES TO
AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY
ADOPTION AND CONSEQUENCES
OF ADOPTION IN
LESS - DEVELOPED
COUNTRIES
BY
Anthony B. Shaw
Department of Geography
Brock University
St. Catharines, Ontario,
Canada.
Paper presented at the Ninth Annual Conference of the Caribbean StudiesAssociation, St. Kitts, West Indies.
1984
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1. Introduction
Since World War II, the prevailing approach to agricultural development
in the Third World has been to stress the application of science-based technology
in order to achieve rapid economic growth. The technology was generally acquired
from transnational corporations and largely embodied capital inputs (hardware)
such as financial resources, machinery, intermediate goods, and distributional
channels for export. This technological relationship between the supplier
and the recipient has been variously described as "technology commercialization"
(Vaitsos 1975), or one of "technology leasing or renting" (Odle 1979). While
the capital-embodied aspects of the technology could be easily transferred
from the, developed to the needy countries, the human embodied aspects (software)
of the technology incorporated as knowledge, skills and experience of human
resources followed rather slowly. In most cases,the hardware of the technology
represented a quick technical solution as a means of reducing the "gap" between
the rich and the poor countries. It is best represented in recent years as a
package of inputs as in the case of the seed-fertilizer technology associated
with the so-called 'Green Revolution'. Today a large body of evidence on the
accumulated experience of many LDCs has proved very convincingly that the
imported technology did not create the desired impact on employment and income.
In other respects, it. did not cater to the basic needs of the population or
build up the technological capability of the nations concerned.
The study of this imported technology has developed in three major
areas: (1) Studying the process of diffusion and adoption across international
and regional boundaries and within regions, (2) Studying the economic,
institutional, structural and environmental preconditions for adoption, and
(3) examining the consequences of its adoption. Within these broad areas of
enquiry, there are multiple traditions of research on the agricultural technology
adoption process in such fields as anthropology, economics, geography, sociology,
and other disciplines. Each has evolved a somewhat different model of the
adoption - diffusion process. Aside from the differences in terminology, there
are real differences among these models because they are concerned with different
aspects of the adoption phenomenon. Such differences which exist in conceptual
schemes, analytical methodologies, and underlying assumptions have tended to
preclude an interdisciplinary approach. In this paper these various approaches
have been grouped into four broad areas of enquiry and a select number of studies
in each area is discussed.
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The main focus of sociologists and geographers has been on the impact
of communication (or interaction) and socio-cultural resistance to innovation on
the pattern of diffusion over time and space. The objective here is to understand
how the different socio-cultural characteristics of the adopters create a spectrum
'ranging from innovators to laggards and how these characteristics determine the
means of communication that are most effective in accelerating the diffusion
process. The models of economists have focused on how economic variables such as the
profitability of an innovation and the asset position of firms influence the rate of
diffusion. In its elaborate form, this approach views peasants as essentially
economic men who are willing and able to respond to the presence of economic
opportunity. In recent years'a third area of enquiry has emerged that is based on
several empirical findings in third world countries. This approach builds on the
communication theories and states that structural change is the essence of
development and that communication is complementary to the adoption process.
It postulates, furthermore, that communication behaviour and the accompanying
socio-psychological chakacteristics of the individual are derived from the situation
in which he is found. Unless this situational or institutional structure is
favourable for development (i.e., opportunities are available) communication
and the personal attributes of the individual alone can furnish only limited
explanation of the innovation-diffusion process. A fourth area of enquiry that is
indirectly related to the diffusion process, very recent in origin, and closely
associated with studies of 'Green Revolution' technology, is that which deals with
the consequences of innovation adoption. This approach has been concerned
primarily with analyzing the changes that have occurred following adoption of
innovations. In the remainder of this paper each of these four approaches is
treated in more detail.
2. Communication and Personal Attributes of the Adopters
Early studies concentrated entirely on the variables reflecting the
communication behaviour of individuals and their socio-cultural and personality
characteristics, since such factors which influenced the flow and processing of
information by individuals were held to be the principal determinants of the
adoption and diffusion of innovation (Havens 1972). In particular, the main
stream of diffusion research of the 1960s held that it was primarily cultural
and material obstacles that prevented the individual farmer from innovating and
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consequently, from rising in social and economic status. Three interconnected
assumptions were made with regard to this view: (1) that it was variations in
the resource base of the individual decision-maker that enhanced or obstructed
the diffusion of innovation, (2) that change, in general, and adoption of
innovation in particular, was in itself desirable, and (3) that individual
decision-maker had equal access to innovation (Apthorpe 1977). These assumptions
ultimately formed the basis of the majority of the diffusion studies which were
concerned with the individual adopter as the unit of analysis.
Rogers with Shoemaker (1971) identified three classifications of
characteristics of adopters: (1) socio-economic status, (2) personality variables,
and (3) communication behaviour. The general findings indicated that early
adopters tended to be more educated, have higher social status, wealthier, more
specialized, have larger size units and possessed a more favourable attitude
towards credit. Personality-wise, early adopters were shown to possess greater
empathy and to be less fatalistic and dogmatic than their less 'progressive'
counterparts. They were shown to be more rational and to possess more favourable
attitudes towards change, education and science, as well as being less averse to
risk-taking. In terms of communication behaviour, earlier adopters tended to be
more cosmopolitan, t.o have more contact with change agent, t.o have more exposure
to mass media and information channels and to seek information earlier than
non-adopters. Careful examination of these variables which have been used in
diffusion models show, by implication, that they have been conceptualized so
as to indicate the success or failure of the individual within the system rather
than as indications of the success or failure of the system.
This approach of identifying the characteristics of the individual
associated with early adoption has been viewed as detrimental t.o the orientation
of action programs designed t.o develop and disseminate new agricultural technology
among farming populations in the . developing countries (Byrnes 1976). According
to Roling (1974), this approach has resulted in a tendency for extension workers
to classify their client farmers on the basis of progressiveness or innovativeness.
Action is then concentrated on the more innovative farmers in the hope that the
new technology will eventually 'trickle down' to other, less progressive farms.
Concentration on the more progressive farms has led to an increase in economic
disparities between the small and large producers by permitting the large operators
to reap windfall profits from early use of the technology. Morss (1976) has
pointed out in several case studies that the more progressive farmers demand :more
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time and services of extension personnel, thereby causing a relative neglect of
the less progressive farmers.
Foster and Eramus (1968) presented a far more contentious view on the
subject of peasant conservatism and reluctance to innovate. The interpretation
holds that the scarcity of present resources leads to the development of societal
attitudes which restrict individual initiative. Foster's model entitled the
'Image of Limited Good' theorized that, in the mind of the peasant all things
desirable in life exist in finite, not infinite, quantities. Foster claims
that in addition to discouraging economic innovation, the limited image also
inhibits development of local leadership and permits the display of wealth only
in a ritual context. He postulated that the social, psychological, and
cultural parameters within which peasants work are so tight as to exclude all
possibility of a large number of peasants maneuvering into more favourable economic
circumstances.
Charles Eramus's cognition model also supported the hypotheses that
present society is by nature intrinsically non-innovative. Peasant society is
said to be in a closed stage of development in which man's limited knowledge of
his environment restricts his control of it and of his own destiny. Owing to.
limited availability of goods, the accumulation of wealth is socially unacceptable.
Innovation and individual achievement are eagerly suppressed. In order to
enforce this standard, peasants exercise 'religious sanctions', permitting wealth
only to be displayed through the rites of 'conspicuous giving'. Religious and
political rituals and positions act as levelling mechanisms, reducing differences
between wealthy and poor (Eramus 1961).
Other scholars have also found peasant societies to be inherently
non-innovative. Lewis (1951) has determined that the society of the Teportlan
is non-competitive' and argued that this circumstance is due to the lack of
strong drive and ambition for improvement and the absence of initiatives. Others
such as Huizer (1970) have placed the absence of innovativeness on an outwardly
imposed cultural repression and stated, furthermore, that once the repression is
removed peasants become militant and ready to accept change. Moreover, some of the
early studies which examined the socio-psychological and cultural attributes of
the peasant farmer have suggested that the peasant farmer possess only a limited
sense of reasoning and economic motivation. Rogers (1969) stated that:.
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Peasant behaviour is far from fully oriented towards rationaland economic considerations. The degree to which peasant farmersare efficiently-minded and economically rational depends in a largepart on his level of modernization. It does not seem justified toassume that subsistence farmers will be promptly motivated to adoptagricultural innovations merely if the pecuniary advantages ofsuch acceptance are pointed out.
In answering the question whether peasant farms can be expected to
behave in a profit-maximizing fashion, Rogers presents empirical evidence that
many farmers are fatalistic (Banfield 1958, Borda 1955, Lewis 1960, Reichel-Dolmatof
1965), favour luck over knowledge and that they are unwilling to save in order to
purchase new inputs t.o increase yields. Peacock (1972) presented further empirical
evidence in support of Rogers' work, in which Peacock points out community
pressures against innovation.
Other studies have pointed out the relatively weak sense of communal
identification or public spiritedness as an impediment to innovation.
This distrust towards mutual self-help has been termed the 'ego focused
image of change' by Hirschman (1958) and the 'zero sum entrepreneurship' by
Leibstein (1957). According to Banfield (1958), the peasant would vote against
measures which help the community without helping him because even though his
position is unchanged, he considers himself worse off if his neighbour's position
changes for the better. Their inability,( therefore, to act concertedly in the
common good was considered a fundamental impediment to their economic progress.
Caplan and Nelson (1975) have warned against applying this psychological
approach. They contend that psychological research focuses on the person-centred
variables which create a person-blame causal attribution bias when applied to social
change. Person-blame is a tendency t.o hold the individuals responsible for their
problems; the alternative is system-blame where the social structure is held
accountable for the problem. According to Havens (1975):
The reason for the failure of technology to bring about widespreadchanges in peasant societies is that the most important obstaclesto rural change is the social structure--the structure of land tenure,of political participation, of economic segregation (both classsegregation and lack of integration into the national economies);the inequitable distribution of wealth, of services, of legal privilegesand of rights, etc. These factors are the ones that have all toofrequently been overlooked (p. 107).
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The communication approach has been the most dominant one in the
diffusion literature. Pye (1963) states that it was the pressure of communication
which brought about the downfall of traditional societies. Rogers (1969) concurs
by affirming that since inventions within a closed system like a peasant village
is a rare event, until there is communication of ideas from sources external
to the village, little change can occur in peasant knowledge, attitudes
and behaviour. He argues that communication is central Lo modernization and
that it is the central force for further dissemination of ideas in the village.
In essence, modernization can be viewed as a communication process.
Communication is the process by which messages are transferred from a
source to receiver. Its role in the agricultural modernization process is
predicated on the assumption that farmers are prevented from adopting new
techniques mainly because of the lack of information and geographic isolation
of farming communities from information centres. The external stimulus which is
channeled through such media as the radio, newspapers, and farm journals is
perceived by individuals and in turn provides impetus for behavioural alteration
(Rogers 1969). To demonstrate the effect of mass media exposure on the adoption
of innovation, communication research was launched in various developing countries
in the 1960s. Noted among these were studies in Colombia (Rogers 1965), in
Turkey (Fry 1964) and in India (Neurath 1962) which showed that mass media
exposure was highly correlated with individual modernization variables.
Closely associated with the communication approach is the study of
innovation-diffusion through space. This approach tends to emphasize the
situational factors in explaining variations in adoption rates from place to place
and is mainly used by. geographers who have applied mathematical models in
attempting to explain the spatial spread of an innovation. These models are either
probabilities or deterministic. The information variable is the key variable in
the diffusion process. The earliest models were introduced by Hagerstrand
(1952, 1965, 1966 and 1967). The chief component variable was information or
communication of information about an innovation. Thus, Hagerstrand (1967)
arrived at the following axiom:
The geographic expression of human behaviour must be viewed in termsof the information available to the individual decision-maker andthereby analyzed in terms of the social network of interpersonalcommunication through which information circulates (p. 300).
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In Hagerstrand's theory, the motive power for diffusion lies in the
spread of information; other cultural variables are relegated to the status
of resistance factors, or barriers, and for the most part are considered to be
randomly distributed and rather unimportant.
Diffusion theorists in the Hagerstrand tradition still hold tenaciously
to the information axiom in spite of cautions expressed by Brown (1969), Pred (1967),
HudSon (1971) and others. The conceptualization of the diffusion process upon which
the models are based is somewhat simplistic and its narrow assumptions limit
cross-cultural applications. Hagerstrand was working in Sweden with a culturally
uniform space and with a population of potential adopters who possessed the
technical and economic means for adoption. Information was, in essence, the only
missing variable, and the only element to set the diffusion process in motion.
An example of a cross-cultural application of the Hagerstrand information based
model is the study by Garst (1972), who examined the diffusion of agricultural
innovations among the Gusii of Kenya. Here, Garst assumed that the technologies
studied were appropriate to the farming population and that . the intensity of
adoption was related to the information received from previous adopters and from
agricultural agents. He concluded that such variations in adoptions rates
indicated that ecological infrastructures and market facilities, rather than
receptivity of information on the part of the adopters, were the most important
factors of innovation diffusion among the Gusii.
In particular, the information based diffusion models have been
criticized by Blaut (1977), who writes:
The diffusion models are grounded in the assumption that thespread of knowledge is a basic operating variable, paradoxicallyenough this is somewhat. anti-intellectual. One assumes thatignorance is the obstacle to adoption - that is, to cultural change.One assumes as well', that a change must come from a teaching (ortelling activity). All of this is, in effect, a denial thatordinary humans are intelligent enough to seek, demand, and toacquire the'need of new knowledge when other conditions foradoption are already present.. Thus, it is not surprising to findthat information-based diffusion theory, in application ratherconsistently identifies successful diffusion with exceptionalindividuals, and with information-dissemination institutions...whenpeasant farmers do not innovate, it is not because they areafflicted with technological ignorance, or with traditional mentalityMost often it is because they cannot afford to do so (p. 346).
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Information-based models by themselves have limited explanatory
power in the diffusion process. They are more effective when combined with
other variables related to the structural situation in which communication
takes place. Unless the situational structure is favourable (i.e., opportunities
are available) communication can be of little use in the development process.
The complementary function of communication is thus to provide situationally
relevant information needed by the individual in order to understand and to
adapt to new conditions resulting from a modernization situation (Grunig 1971).
Thus, mass media exposure does not create innovative individuals; rather
innovative individuals have opportunities and a need for information and thus
expose themselves to the media in hopes of gaining new facts about an innovation
(McNelly 1968).
3. Profitability and Rate of Adoption
Economists have argued against the prevailing view that socio-cultural
and communication variables are the important determinants of the rate of
adoption of innovation among peasants in less developed countries. According to
Shultz (1964), economic stimuli greatly affect peasants and to such an extent that
we do need to attend to cultural factors:
Despite all that has been written to show that farmers in poorcountries are subject to all manner of cultural restraints thatmake them unresponsive to normal economic incentives in acceptingnew agricultural factors, studies of observed lags in acceptance ofparticularly new agricultural factors show that these lags areexplained satisfactorily by profitability (p. 164).
Shultz argues that increases in agricultural production over the
last few decades have come primarily from the responses of farmers to new
economic opportunities and that economic.growth from the agricultural sector
of a poor country depends predominantly upon the availability and price of modern
(non-traditional) agricultural factors. When the suppliers succeed in producing
and distributing these factors cheaply, the stage is set for farmers to adopt them.
The American farmer appears to have adjusted rationally to these new
developments in the supply and distribution of cheap factors of production. In
the case of hybrid corn, Griliches (1969) postulated that the rate of acceptance
was a function of both the profitability per acre and the total output. Where
the profits from the innovation were large and clearcut, the changeover was rapid.
It. took Iowa farmers only four years to go from 10 to 90 percent of their corn
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acreage in hybrid corn. In areas where the profitability was lower, the
adjustments were also slower. Given the uncertainty of the innovation and the
gradual spread of knowledge, farmers have behaved in a fashion consistent
with the idea of profit maximization. Griliches further contends that in the
long term and cross-sectional sociological variables will cancel themselves out,
leaving the economic variables as the major determinants of the pattern of
technological change.
Similar findings were reported by Bhati (1975) of profit maximizing
behaviour of Malaysian rice farmers. The farmers will adopt HYV of rice if it
helps him to make a greater profit. Research data from West Malaysia on padi
yield to fertilizer input show that the production function of IR 5 is superior to
Mahsuri resulting in rapid adoption. When the factor-product prices changed in a
manner that adversely affected relative profitability this caused a discontinuation
of HYV.
Apart from direct economic gains from the innovation, Mellor (1968)
summarized three conditions that must be met if an innovation is to be accepted:
(1) there must be a desire for increased material welfare; (2) there must be
expectation that the specific innovation will increase wealth; and (3) there must
be expectation that the farmer as an innovator will participate in an increase in
wealth from the innovation.
Further inhibition to acceptance of an innovation may arise from labour
allocation, borrowing of resources, and response to price. Innovation may require
additional labour input if it is to be profitable. In such a case, an innovation
may not be accepted for the simple reason that it requires a substantial labour
input and yet does not generate sufficient income (Mellor 1965). In appraising .
the risks of adopting new agricultural technology, small farmers worry about labour
scarcity, not surplus. Every time a small farmer's labour requirement exceeds
the capacity of his family labour supply, he faces labour scarcity. Depending
on the labour deficit, outside labour must be hired at a high cost which places
a serious labour constraint on adoption (Morss et al. 1976).
Other constraints may also exist in terms of market and distance factors.
Brown and Lent.nek (1973) posit that the incentive to adopt is directly related
to the marginal returns from adoption, the amount of information about the innovation,
and the transportation costs. Given these constraints, the adoption potential
would exhibit distance decay properties with the market centre at the peak of the
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surface. A shift in price will shift the entire surface since marginal returns
for all locations would be affected. According to Huerta (1978), a farmer may
meet all the price requisites and still not adopt the innovation if the input
and product markets are not easily accessible to him. Easy access to product
markets is essential for adoption since success with innovation means higher
levels of marketable production.
Finally, prospective yield and risk also determine the rate of acceptance
of new technology. For adoption to occur, the new technology must result in greater
production per unit of inputs used than previously existing technology (Herdt and
Wickham 1975). When Filipino rice farmers are asked why they changed from the
old to the new rice varieties, they invariably reply: "Because yields were
higher and I made more money" (Chandler 1973).
4. Institutional and Structural Constraints
The social, economic and cultural characteristics of the individual,
together with the flow of information about new farm techniques and market
prices, are not alone sufficient to explain the differential adoption rate of
agricultural technology. The communication, psychological and economic behaviour
of the peasant farmer in the adoption process has been over-emphasized and seems
to suggest that the entire responsibility of agricultural modernization depends
on the responsiveness of the farmer to information, new production techniques
and prices. This preoccupation with the individual as the key element in the
innovation-diffusion process ignores the structural, institutional and social
rigidities that must be removed if meaningful development is t.o ensue. This
particular approach is due to the dominance of a few disciplines in the diffusion
research and especially the socio-economic and geographic context in which the
theories originated:
The single most important group of studies came out of Rural . Sociology.
.Most of the research had been done in the United States. Prominent sources
were the NOrth Central Rural Sociology Sub-Committee for the Study of Diffusion
of Farm Practices (1955, 1961), Wilkening (1958), Liongerger (1960), Bohlen (1964)
and Burdge (1972). Wilkening was among the first t.o determine the relationship
among individual characteristics of potential adopters. The survey by Rogers
and Shoemaker (1971) of diffusion research showed 58 percent of the generalizations
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had innovativeness As the dependent variable and 78 to 92 percent of the
generalizations had the individual as the unit of analysis.
In the 1960s an increasing number of United States scholars transferred
their research interests to the underdeveloped countries where diffusion theory
and principles were applied with similar vigour and were considered compatible
with national growth strategies. The emphasis was on modernization through
communication development (learner 1958, Pye 1963, Learner and Schramn 1967 and
Rogers with Svenning 1969). The diffusion model was applied with similar
individualistic and psychological bias (Havens 1975) and with little consideration
shown for the socio-economic and structural system in which the peasant farmer
operates (Bordenave 1976). Analysts of Latin American development problems
have contended that technological diffusion and growth is not what is needed
but rather a change of social structure or situational conditions that will
facilitate the acquisition of technology by all potential clients (Beltram 1976).
In agriculture, farm size is a major structural variable. Farm size
has implications for the amount and composition of production inputs. Enterprise
choices and combination are additional structural characteristics that influence
the use of agricultural technology. Institutions can have a significant impact
on the rate and direction of technological change in agriculture; these impacts •
can range from influence on the allocation of resources, to public research, to
policies that encourage or discourage the use of specific forms of technology.
Credit and price policies are also institutional factors that affect technological
change (Taske 1977). In case studies these factors have been referred to by
Aiken and others (1974) and Havens and Flinn '(1975) as structural rigidities and/or
situational constraints. For example, Grunig (1971) has identified seven areas
of structural rigidities in agricultural modernization in Colombia: (1) highly
unstable markets, (2) a land tenure system which concentrates the best land in
favour of large land owners, (3) insufficient roads and poor quality of transportation
facilities, (4) poor distribution of modern production inputs, (5) insufficient
education and with little practical use, (6) an institutional credit system which
excludes most peasants, and (7) sources of information that seldom provide
situationally relevant information. He concludes that communication can be of little
use unless these situational constraints are first removed.
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The need for structural change is most evident in the credit institutions
upon which small farmers rely. Too large a share goes to the big farmers who
use it less efficiently (Rao 1976). Limited access to credit institutions
prevents small farmers from employing technology that is by nature capital
intensive. This point has been widely documented in studies related to the
diffusion of 'Green Revolution' technology by Frankel (1971), Schulter (1974)
and Lipton (1976). Small farmers are restricted in their ability to adopt new
technology because they are considered bad risks as opposed to the big farmers
who are more credit worthy. Thiesenhausen (1975) suggests other reasons for
this bias:
The cost of servicing a loan to a small farmer may be as greatas that to a larger farmer. The red tape and delay also deter thesmall farmer from borrowing. Even assuming zero credit availabilityto everyone, large scale farmers would be able to finance a certainlevel of inputs from their own savings while small holders usually findthis impossible and even if small farmers who are prevented fromreceiving public credit and are able to borrow from private credit market,they will probably have to pay usurious rates which may well cancel outprofits (p. 45).
Limited access to credit has also adversely affected the small farmer
by increasing risk aversion. Incapacity to borrow in bad times, so as to repay
in good times, has further deterred the risk averse farmer .from adopting
agricultural innovation.
The part played by the alleged conservativeness of the peasant farmer
in the non-adoption of innovation has been over-emphasized. Awareness of
accurate information is a necessary condition for adoption but obviously is not .
sufficient in itself. Such factors as the compatibility of the technology with
local environmental conditions and the production system will also determine
its rate of acceptance by farmers. For example, agricultural research institutions
have produced modern technology designed around high-yielding plant varieties,
which can only produce if their specialized needs for water and agro-chemicals are
met in accordance with specific formulas. Adoption of this form of technology
requires costly adjustment in farm production strategies that restricts it to a
limited number of farmers (Morss 1976). Extensive adoption can take place only
if the necessary preconditions in such areas as drainage and irrigation, adequate
supplies of complementary inputs, market roads, storage facilities and extension
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institutions are provided. The provision of such costly infrastructural facilities
will require public investments and considerable changes in institutional
arrangements (Bhalla 1977).
Finally, the attribute of the innovation has also been judged to be an
important constraint on adoption. Grain quality is an important characteristic
that has influenced the acceptability of rice varieties by farmers. Such
varieties as IR 8 and IR 5 have been widely criticized because they have rather
broad grains with a considerable amount of chalkiness in the abdominal part of the
endosperm. These qualities reduce market price. In addition, some of these
varieties tend to be rather dry (as opposed to sticky) when cooked. This
characteristic has reduced the acceptability of these varieties, particularly in
the Phillipines and Indonesia. A good example of the importance of cooking
quality is the variety C4-63, which was developed by the College of Agriculture
of the University of Phillipines. Its good cooking and eating quality is the
principal reason for it.s rapid spread in the Phillipines and Indonesia (Poleman
and Freebairn, 1973).
5. Consequences of Adoption
Consequences have been conceptualized as separate and subsequent
• phenomena to the diffusion of innovations. Consequences are defined as the
changes that occur within a social system as a result of the adoption or
rejection of an innovation. In spite of the importance of consequences, they
have received very little study by diffusion researchers. Typically, diffusion
researchers have devoted much attention to the antecedents of adoption, including
socio-economic and personal characteristics of the respondents and their communication
behaviour. This is primarily because: (1) change agencies believe that the
innovation is needed by the clients and that it.s introduction will be desirable
and will bring about positive changes; (2) perhaps the usual survey methods are
inappropriate for the investigation of innovation consequences; and (3) consequences
are difficult to measure because judgements concerning consequences are almost
unavoidably subjective and value laden and may be confounded with other effects.
Consequences can be measured on two dimensions: (1) the level of
consequences, and (2) distribution of consequences. In measuring the level of
consequences, there is assessment of the absolute amount or change in the aggregate
value of consequences. For development programs these are typically figures
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regarding changes in average production, average cost, average income, average
education, etc. (Day and Singh 1975 and Rudra 1978). In measuring distribution
there is assessment of the frequencies of system members along a continuum for a
particular consequence. These are typically distribution of people by income
groups, distribution of farms by production, distribution of people by amount of
education, and so on (Goss 1979).
Consequences may alsO be classified as functional or dysfunctional.
Functional consequences are the desirable effects of an innovation on a social
system whereas dysfunctional consequences are undesirable effects. An innovation
such as the adoption of high-yielding varieties of wheat or rice may lead to
desirable consequences such as higher crop yields, higher income, higher wages
and an increase in the demand for labour as shown in studies by Ahmed (1977),
Eckert (1977), Agarwal (1976) and Mehta (1975). On the other hand, introduction
of similar innovations may exacerbate existing economic disparity between income
groups and between geographic regions as a result of institutional and structural
constraints. Although farms of all sizes have adopted HYVs, the gains have been
highly concentrated among large size farmers as shown in studies of such countries
as India, Colombia and Mexico (Frankel 1971, Sen 1970, Havens and Flinn 1975, and
Tuckman 1976). Moreover, the new technology, by enhancing the profitability of
cultivation has made many land owners who earlier leased out their land or left it
idle, into commercial-profit-maximizers. From this change, there followed eviction
of tenants, increased rental payments, high interest rates and a general rise
in production costs and land values (St.avenhagen 1968 and Swanson 1973). Whereas the
new technology has been considered to be labour intensive, this beneficial effect
has been offset by high labour costs, the need for timeliness of field operations
and multiple cropping practices which demand intensive mechanization (Barker
1972 and Staub 1973). In India and Pakistan farm mechanization, especially
the use of tractors and combine' harvesters, appears to nave further polarized rural
wealth and'created tensions in the social structure of the rural populations
(Kaur and Ta4at 1973, and Ali and Ali 1973).
Finailly, controversy still surrounds the distribution of gains of the
new technology. Luning (1977) stated that although a percentage of the rural and
urban poor gained, in general, the benefits were transmitted to consumers through
both lower food prices and increased per capita consumption.
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6. Ecological Consequences
A major indirect consequence of the greater use of chemical fertilizers
is the deficiency of micronutrients in the soil, which has increased since the
introduction of "green revolution" technology. In India increased use of
chemical fertilizer has reduced the amount of organic manures, consequently
up-setting the chemical balance of the soil. (Bowonder 1981).
Another important consequence of adopting the High Yielding Variety
Technology is the increased usage of energy associated with mechanization in field
operations and irrigation. The short growth period of new crop varieties and
their requirements for precise field conditions placed additional constraints
on the utilization of traditional inputs and practices,and in turn have demanded
more energy-intensive methods in order to exploit the full potential of the
technology.
The use of fertilizers and pesticides has negative ecological
consequences. For instance, increased turbidity in rivers and canals result in
lower fish yield. Furthermore, fertilizer run-off from fields into streams
is increasing and affects the fish population which cannot thrive in water that
contains high amounts of nitrates and sulphates. Farmers, especially those
who cultivate paddy, have fish ponds in their fields, but larger doses of
fertilizers have such a deleterious effect that those groups who consume mainly
fish and rice suffer from malnutrition. the reduction of fish yields causes
the poorer farmers to consume more cereals, further aggravating the protein-
calorie malnutrition. Increased pesticide application has also been found to
decrease the humus layer of the soil and impair it to micro structure, resulting
in higher rates of erosion and desertification. (Fernando 1978).
It seems therefore that there are systematic consequences of the
incompatibility between the mature of modern agro-technology and agriculture
itself especially in the tropical regions. This incompatibility arises as a result
or failure to recognize that technological input - irrigation, agrochemicals,
new seed varieties, are in fact high energy inputs into a system that has
evolved by obtaining its energy from the sun solely. These intrusions often
produce effects sufficiently deleterious to counterbalance the positive socio-
economic benefits of the intended programme. It is essential therefore, that the
practical application of any technology should not disrupt the environment.
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At a more general level, there are many built-in forces in the process
of economic development of LDCs which convert technological gap into a situation
of technological dependence, with its consequences at the political, economic,
and social levels. With respect to third world agricultural development, farmers
are moving from traditional modes of production that are not truly static bUt do
emphasize stability and security and which have evolved slowly. In their place
they adopting capital-intensive methods that are closely linked to international
market forces which are not only dynamic but intensify dependence on foreign
suppliers. The most important effects are manifested in the deterioration of
the terms of trade. In this case the deterioration is due to the fact that LDCs
are exporting low priced goods and importing high-technology-intensive goods
(high-priced). Additionally, this situation tends to stifle indigenous
technological capability, especially where foreign technologies are unadapted to
local social, economic and cultural factors.
7. Conclusions
It is evident from this discussion that the conceptualization of the
diffusion process has been interpreted within strict disciplinary frameworks.
In the various disciplines that have probed the diffusion adoption phenomenon
the majority of the studies have taken an individualistic bias by focusing on
the personal attributes of the individual and his communication behaviour. The
strong individualistic bias of this approach is apparent in the assertion that
institutional arrangements may present themselves as constraints on the individual,
but that the individual by his own actions can free himself from these constraints.
Moreover, closely related to this assertion is the assumption that all have
equal access to information and to credit necessary to finance the acquisition
of new technological inputs. This approach is largely due to the fact that early
studies have viewed the causes of underdevelopment from strictly North American and
European viewpoints. As a result, we see third world studies employing the
same selection of variables as the U.S. and European studies. This is probably
because in most cases the researchers have failed to recognize that variables transferred
from one setting to another may be reflecting different cultural, institutional and
structural contexts which determine the individual behaviour. As long as imported
technologies from the industrialized countries are not modified and adapted to the
indigenous conditions of the Third World, this situation will inevitably worsen
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conditions for the recipient countries. The technology must be compatible as
far as possible with local cultural, social and economic factors, as well as
existing structural and institutional arrangements. But even a benign form of
technological dependence should not preclude the development of specific
technological policies and strategies as part of the overall goal of economic
and social development-
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