Impact of social networks on agricultural technology adoption: A case study of existing extension programs for paddy cultivation in Matara district.

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.