The Impact of Social Networks on Agricultural Technology Adoption
(2014) NEKH01 20141Department of Economics
- Abstract
- This thesis analyses the impact of social networks on technology adoption among smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. The effects of four types of social networks on adoption of fertilizer and soil conservation practices were estimated using a sample of households from the Ethiopian Rural Household Surveys (ERHS). Trusted kinship links were found to have a small but positive effect on fertilizer adoption and trusted relationships with neighbors were found to have a positive impact on soil conservation practices. The results suggest that social networks could facilitate information flows and social learning in technology diffusion processes and that different forms of social networks may be more or less appropriate for information and social... (More)
- This thesis analyses the impact of social networks on technology adoption among smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. The effects of four types of social networks on adoption of fertilizer and soil conservation practices were estimated using a sample of households from the Ethiopian Rural Household Surveys (ERHS). Trusted kinship links were found to have a small but positive effect on fertilizer adoption and trusted relationships with neighbors were found to have a positive impact on soil conservation practices. The results suggest that social networks could facilitate information flows and social learning in technology diffusion processes and that different forms of social networks may be more or less appropriate for information and social learning effects depending on the type of technology used. A better understanding of local social network mechanisms could improve the effectiveness of future efforts to promote modern agricultural technology in the developing world. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4465719
- author
- De Graaf, Emma LU
- supervisor
-
- Andreas Bergh LU
- Therese Nilsson LU
- organization
- course
- NEKH01 20141
- year
- 2014
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Agriculture, Ethiopia, technology adoption, social networks, fertilizer, soil conservation
- language
- English
- id
- 4465719
- date added to LUP
- 2014-06-23 22:13:02
- date last changed
- 2014-06-23 22:13:02
@misc{4465719,
abstract = {{This thesis analyses the impact of social networks on technology adoption among smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. The effects of four types of social networks on adoption of fertilizer and soil conservation practices were estimated using a sample of households from the Ethiopian Rural Household Surveys (ERHS). Trusted kinship links were found to have a small but positive effect on fertilizer adoption and trusted relationships with neighbors were found to have a positive impact on soil conservation practices. The results suggest that social networks could facilitate information flows and social learning in technology diffusion processes and that different forms of social networks may be more or less appropriate for information and social learning effects depending on the type of technology used. A better understanding of local social network mechanisms could improve the effectiveness of future efforts to promote modern agricultural technology in the developing world.}},
author = {{De Graaf, Emma}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Impact of Social Networks on Agricultural Technology Adoption}},
year = {{2014}},
}