Factors influencing the adoption and transfer mechanisms for conservation agriculture production systems from early adopters to laggards in Cambodia

Adoption of conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) requires changes in knowledge and resources that affect farmers’ decision-making on agricultural practices, ultimately impacting production, family income, and food security. The effectiveness of CAPS promotion is influenced by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, promotion mechanisms, agricultural information sources, and extension methods. This research explored the factors influencing the adoption and transfer mechanisms for CAPS and evaluated their impact from early adopters to laggards in Cambodia. A mixed-methods approach was employed and data were collected through face-to-face and in-depth interviews in Battambang and Preah Vihear provinces. The results indicated that the factors influencing the adoption and transfer included gender, age, field numbers related to farm size (i.e., farmers with more fields tended to have larger farm sizes), and off-farm income, all of which had a positive and significant effect. Early adopters improved productivity [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87–0.92] and food security (95% CI: 0.86–0.92) by 4% compared to laggard farmers. However, there was no significant impact on family income between both groups. Several mechanisms for promoting CAPS including support, transfer, and adoption, required the engagement of relevant stakeholders such as the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), early adopter farmers, and laggard farmers. Farm-to-farmer initiatives were the most effective mechanism for transferring CAPS, followed by demonstration plots, farm or home visits, workshops or discussions, local agriculture fairs, and office calls. Relatives became the fundamental agricultural information sources, followed by mass media, research institutes, NGOs, the government, and personal experiences. The farm-to-farmer approach should be prioritized for CAPS outreach as farmers tend to trust information from their relatives. Future research should assess the sustained adoption of CAPS post-intervention, as outcome values are projected to increase by over 4%, potentially influencing household income.