Adoption of Improved Cassava Varieties in Uganda: What Does Agricultural Extension Do?

Abstract

Agricultural production, especially by smallholder farmers, is often hampered by
insufficient knowledge about better farm inputs or farming practices, low adoption to
improved agricultural technologies, or low diffusion of agricultural innovations by the
inventing institutions. This paper examines the role of agricultural extension to the
adoption of improved cassava varieties in Uganda. We indicate for agricultural extension
using the farmers’ reported accessibility to agricultural extension from extension workers
about such improved varieties. We use probit with selection equation on data collected
from eight (8) districts in Northern Uganda. Our main results indicate a higher
probability of adopting improved cassava varieties when farmers access agricultural
extension services; and also document farmers’ distrust to improved cassava varieties as
a crop enterprise that can guarantee their households with food security. From a policy
perspective, our results suggest that the design and content of agricultural extension
services are important to leverage the extent of the adoption of modern agricultural
technologies. Specifically, improving the performance of the cassava crop enterprise
requires enhanced investment in diffusing innovations in the enterprise.
JEL Classification: O12, O13, O33, Q16