Abstract:
Agricultural technology adoption means the accept and integration of agricultural
technologies and social networks are important to disseminate agricultural technologies among
rural farmers. Social networks are patterns of relationships among people in the society and
agricultural instructors, contact farmers and other farmers are the main social network actors in
paddy farming communities. The study delves into the complex dynamics of social networks and
how they affect paddy farmers’ adoption of agricultural technologies, which are included in the
Yaya development program, the Weedy rice program and the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
program in Matara district. Structured questionnaire survey was conducted with seventy-five
farmers from Wilpita, Kamburupitiya and Malimbada. Wilpita, Kamburupitiya and Malimbada
were purposively selected as three study areas in Matara district whereas simple random
sampling technique was used to select twenty-five farmers from each area. Results of UCINET
(Version - 6.771) revealed that, Wilpita has the highest social network density (0.201) and
Malimbada has the lowest social network density (0.144). Agricultural instructors have the
highest centrality and due to that, most prominent actors of the social network are required to
disseminate the technologies of agricultural extension programs in Matara district. The number
of farmers, who continue the use of agricultural technologies of existing extension programs (41)
is higher than the farmers, who do not continue the use of agricultural technologies (34)
therefore, the adoption percentage for agricultural technologies of extension programs is high.
Technology adoption has a positive correlation with both influence of actors in the social network
(r2=0.626) and trustworthiness about agricultural instructors (r2=0.425). There was a negative
correlation between technology adoption and trust of indigenous knowledge about paddy
cultivation (r2=-0.377) on technology adoption by the farmers. According to the above results,
social network factors highly effects on agricultural technology adoption and due to that,
introduction of contact farmers for each yaya, increase the number of AI officers, conducting
training programs and introduction of social media platforms for networking are suggestions to
improve the social network in Matara district. The research endeavors to contribute a nuanced
understanding about the impact of social networks on agricultural technology adoption in Matara
District, offering practical insights for stakeholders involved in agricultural extension services.
