The role of knowledge,attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the great potential of agricultural innovations, the uptake by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa seems to be slow. We reviewed existing theories and frameworks for the uptake of agricultural innovations and found that these tend to emphasize the role of extrinsic factors such as the characteristics of the adopter and the external environment in the decision-making process. In this paper, we argue that intrinsic factors such as the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of the potential adopter towards the innovation play a key role, but this has been less studied. We present an analytical framework that combines both extrinsic and intrinsic factors in farmers' decisions to adopt new agricultural technologies and apply the framework to agroforestry adoption as a case study. We review the literature on agroforestry adoption in sub-Saharan Africa and identify the extrinsic and intrinsic variables affecting the uptake of agroforestry technologies. We conclude that the uptake of agricultural technologies is a complex process influenced by both extrinsic and intrinsic variables, and recommend that future studies aiming to understand the adoption process of agricultural innovations take into account both sets of variables. A mechanistic understanding of how intrinsic and extrinsic factors interact and drive adoption can help in targeting technologies appropriately to ensure sustainability.     

江苏省东陇海产业带区域发展能力评价与提升策略

以市区和县域为研究单元,从经济发展推动力、社会发展支撑力、资源环境承裁力3个方面构建区域发展能力指标体系,采用熵值法进行量化分析并进行发展能力评价;从省城层面看,该区域发展能力明显弱于省平均水平;从区域内部看,发展能力差距明显,综合发展能力优势集中在东陇海产业带的增长极核区域;提出提升区域发展能力的基本策略:深化区域分工、接收转移产业,完善基础设施,涵养资源环境,整合空间结构.     

皖西丘陵山区农业可持续发展研究

皖西丘陵山区是安徽省老、边、穷地区 ,农业占有举足轻重的地位。通过对该区的农业生产条件、农业可持续发展的主要制约因素的分析 ,提出了农业可持续发展的主要对策 ,以期能对皖西丘陵山区农业发展有所裨益。