Diffusion Through Social Networks- Farming in Rwanda
A significant portion of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa relies on agricultural practices as a basic means of survival. Unfortunately, many of the small-scale farmers struggle to survive, as their productivity levels are among the lowest in the world. Researchers attribute this to a lack of knowledge about agricultural practices and technologies, as many of these farmers are not trained to use the best agronomic practices. However, researchers believe that with the proper training, these farmers can drastically improve productivity and improve their own economic outlooks. In particular, the Ministry of Agriculture in Rwanda states that the main reason the country has fallen short of its coffee sector targets is due to inadequate farming practices. In order to help improve the economic outlook, the agricultural business NGO TechnoServe agreed to conduct agronomy training in several regions of Rwanda, in hope of helping farmers increase crop yields.
However, TechnoServe only possesses the resources in order to train a limited number of farmers. Due to this, TechnoServe assigned half of the households in the coffee growing region to a treatment group, which would actually receive agronomic training, while the other half was put into the comparison group who were given basic tools to help with farming, but no actual training. Each group was given a baseline survey that gathered crop production and profit information, as well as a detailed social network map of which farmers talked to others about coffee. Different villages were also given different intensity levels in treatment groups, as some training was only administered to one fourth of registered households in the village, while the other three fourths were a part of the comparison group (but the overall distribution of control to treatment throughout the whole region was one half to one half). Each year, farmers from both groups were surveyed again in order to collect data concerning their own coffee practices. These surveys were given to both groups as the author says, in order to “assess the diffusion of these practices, through the social network of trained farmers.”
Having only enough resources to train some of the farmers, TechnoServe studied the principle of diffusion through a social network, as they obtained results from farmers who had not undergone direct training, to see if their practices had changed to match those of the trained farmers. By comparing these results to the social network map obtained at the beginning of the study, TechnoServe could see how valuable farming information diffused through the social network, as they could figure out which farmers had adopted more efficient practices that had been taught to others in their social network. Different concentrations of treatment were also placed throughout different villages in order to figure out what would be the most efficient number of farmers to train, that would minimize cost and allow information to diffuse through the social network most effectively. The results of this study are still forthcoming, but it will be very interesting to see how information diffused through the social network of coffee farmers in Rwanda, as such information could be used in order to improve agricultural practices throughout the world.
This article is very relevant to topics that have been covered in class, as we have discussed diffusion through a network. This is a case where the farmers who were trained in more efficient agricultural practices could be considered early adopters of new methods, as they were given information that a majority of their neighbors had no way to obtain. Since this new method of farming is more efficient then what most are using, then the new farming practices will likely diffuse through the network and many will adopt more efficient farming practices, due to the fact that the new method of farming is better than the old method and more people will be willing to adopt it. However, one cannot know the extent to which this information will diffuse, as there are several outside factors that could affect the spread of this information, as well as the fact that the results of the study are still pending.
Source: http://www.poverty-action.org/project/0462
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