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Sustainable agricultural intensification is an urgent challenge for Sub-Saharan Africa. One potential solution is to rely on local farmers’ knowledge for improved management of diverse on-farm resources and integration among various farm enterprises.
In this article, the authors analyze the farm-level impact of one recent example, namely the integrated aquaculture–agriculture (IAA) technologies that have been developed and disseminated in a participatory manner in Malawi. Based on a 2004 survey of 315 respondents, they test the hypothesis that adoption of IAA is associated with improved farm productivity and more efficient use of resources.
Estimating a technical inefficiency function shows that IAA farms are significantly more efficient compared to nonadopters. IAA farms also have:
(a) higher total factor productivity,
(b) higher farm income per hectare, and
(c) higher returns to family labor.
In this research, regression analyses show that the following are associated with more adoption of IAA technologies in Southern Malawi.
(a) extension contact,
(b) farmer training,
(c) better access to water,
(d) higher number of farm enterprises, and
(e) bigger farm size
While it is the somewhat larger farmers that tended to adopt IAA, all farmers included in the sample had small holdings. Thus, IAA adoption is associated not only with a stronger capital base but also offers a safety-net effect in which farmers improve their access to food in general and protein in particular. However, access to at least some land is a precondition for IAA adoption.
This is similar to many other agricultural innovations that landless people cannot adopt directly. Finally, the adoption by somewhat larger farmers suggest what has been observed in many other farming communities: marginal farmers tend to be more averse to taking risks and are therefore not likely to be among the first to adopt a new technology; instead, they follow a wait-and-see approach.
Group or community-based approaches and training help small-scale farmers to adopt new technologies such as IAA more easily. One key element of the IAA approach is the participatory training of farmers and the technology dissemination through farmer groups. This has important implications for the sustainability of technology adoption.
A study that evaluates the variation of economic performance of IAA adopters and nonadopters over a number of years could help to back-up the hypothesis that IAA adoption as a diversification of the existing farming system helps to reduce risk. |
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