Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:39:24.613Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sociological and Ecological Factors in Technology Adoption: Fodder Trees in Southeast Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

P. A. Francis  and
A. N. Atta-Krah
P. A. Francis
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa, Humid Zone Programme, PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
A. N. Atta-Krah
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa, Humid Zone Programme, PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Farmer-managed trials with browse trees were undertaken at two locations in southeast Nigeria. The fast-growing tree species Leucaena leucocephala and Gliricidia sepium were either inter-planted with crops as alley farms or planted in pure stands as intensive feed gardens. At both locations, most of the trees established successfully under farmer management. However, the quality of establishment was uneven, and the rate of utilization generally poor, especially at one site. The limited success of the trials is traced to a number of related sociological, institutional and edaphic factors. These include poor soil fertility; the incompatibility of established cropping patterns and rotation practices with the planting of trees on farms; the division of labour and organization of decision-making within the household; and land and tree tenure rules. It is argued that farmer-managed trials are necessary to reveal the importance of sociological and institutional factors in farmers' decision making, and that such trials require a high level of farmer autonomy in their management.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 1989 , pp. 1 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ashby, J. A. (1987). The effects of different types of farmer participation on the management of on-farm trials. Agricultural Administration and Extension 25:235–252.Google Scholar
Atta-Krah, A. N. (1985). Developmental approach to on-farm research: A pilot project for improving small ruminant production in humid West Africa. In Research Methodology for Livestock On-farm Trials: Proceedings of a Workshop held at Aleppo, Syria, 25–28 March 1985 (Eds Nordblom, T. L., Ahmed, A. K. H. and Potts, G. R.). Ottawa: IDRC.Google Scholar
Atta-Krah, A. N. & Francis, P. A. (1987). The role of on-farm trials in the evaluation of composite technologies: the case of alley farming in southern Nigeria. Agricultural Systems 23:133–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, L. & Adeoye, S. A. O.. (1986). Planted leguminous browse and livestock production. In Alley Farming for Humid and Subhumid Regions of Africa: Proceedings of a Workshop held at IITA, Ibadan, March 10–14, 1986. Ibadan: IITA.Google Scholar
Lagemann, J. (1977). Traditional African Farming Systems in Eastern Nigeria. Munchen: Weltforum Verlag.Google Scholar