A review of agroforestry technologies adoption among small-holder farmers in Zimbabwe

Abstract

A number of surveys to investigate the actual and potential adoption of agro forestry technologies have focused primarily on the influence of different household and farm characteristics on the adoption by farmers but the process of adoption is quite complicated, dynamic and the various factors are likely to influence each other – hence they should not be treated in isolation, ignoring their mutual interdependencies. This inevitable implication on measuring the influence of household and farm characteristics in itself may not provide sufficient explanations and necessitated the need for alternative approaches that address the inadequacies of household and farm-based traditional approaches. Therefore need to review qualitative research methodologies that would compliment quantitative research approaches and provide insights into farmers’ 69 Journal of Sustainable Development Studies adoption patterns which can improve the understanding of the process of adoption of agro forestry technologies from the perspective of farmers. The qualitative methodologies may enable the comprehension of the process of adoption on the basis of diversity as found amongst informants and generating the relevant variables in the course of interviewing and observation.