The adopter versus the technology: their importance as determinants of adoption and their use in research

Research on the determinants of adoption of agricultural innovations (technologies and practices) has failed to converge towards a consistent explanation for why farmers do or do not choose to adopt new technologies and practices. This absence of convergence matters because it indicates that agricultural extension and policy are influenced by a body of literature that is often not able to offer clear recommendations on the variables that can be used to design interventions. Our analysis shows that adopter and technology characteristics are important determinants of adoption, but researchers have been mainly focused on researching the adopter and the general farming context, with relatively little attention on understanding the influence on adoption of the characteristics of the technology itself