Adoption of Agricultural Innovations: The Case of Improved Sweet Potato in Wedza Community of Zimbabwe

Abstract

The smallholder farming sector plays an important role in agricultural production. However this sector is constrained by vulnerability to climatic variations, inadequate access to farming inputs, inappropriate technologies and limited access to markets. There have been concerted efforts by various stakeholders to introduce new technologies that will help improve the food security situation. This study analysed the adoption of the improved sweet potato using a Tobit regression model. The independent variables were socio-economic factors and farmers’ perception of the agronomic attributes. The socio-economic factors that were found to influence use-intensity and adoption probability were farmer training (for use-intensity only); participation in on-farm trials; irrigation use; farmer-to-farmer input exchange and extension. All significant socio-economic factors had a positive relationship with adoption. Perceptions of the following agronomic attributes were found to significantly influence adoption: drought resistance; maturation; storage performance; and multiplication and retention capacity.