Author(s)

Aminata Diagne^1*, Lota D. Tamini¹, François S. Fall²

¹Research Center in Economics of Environment, Agrifood, Transport and Energy (CREATE) of the Department of Agri-Food Economics and Consumer Science of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences of Laval University, Quebec, Canada.
²Economics, Politics and Social Systems Study and Research Laboratory (LEREPS) of the Economics and Management Department of Toulouse 2-Jean Jaures University, Toulouse, France.

This paper analyzes the adoption dynamics of improved rainfed maize seeds disseminated in Senegal in 2013 by the West African Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP). We group maize producers into five groups (non-adopters, laggards/abandoners, late adopters, followers and pioneers/innovators) and take into account the heterogeneity of unobservable characteristics of the producers. In the pioneers/innovators group, the availability of labour, household size, shocks, and frequency of access to advice positively influence adoption, whereas financial constraints and high numbers of plots reduce the probability of adoption. Producers in the followers’ category tend to be older and more educated than those in the other categories. However, food insecurity and shocks such as diseases hamper adoption. For the group of late adopters, household size and available storage infrastructures explain adoption. However, the number of plots and shocks reduces their probability of adoption. Laggards tend to face shocks and food insecurity. The authors recommend to consider the dynamics of the adoption of technological innovations and heterogeneity of the characteristics of adopters groups in future research. They also recommend farmers to increase their adoption rate of the “Early Thai” and “Suwan 1” seed varieties thanks to their higher yields compared to traditional varieties. Also, a higher adoption rate would positively impact the food security of maize farmers in Eastern Senegal and High Casamance, especially in terms of availability. Other studies measuring the number of years needed for large-scale adoption of improved seed varieties should be conducted.

Adoption, Technological Innovations, Multinomial Logit Model, Endogeneity, Unobservable Heterogeneity, Senegal

Diagne, A. , Tamini, L. and Fall, F. (2022) Factors Explaining the Dynamics of Agricultural Technological Innovations Adoption: Evidence from Senegal’s Rain Maize Farmer. Agricultural Sciences, 13, 1234-1258. doi: 10.4236/as.2022.1311076.