The Adopters versus the Technology: Which Matters More when Predicting or Explaining Adoption?

Research on the determinants of adoption of agricultural innovations (technologies and practices) has failed to converge towards a consistent explanation for why farmers choose to adopt new technologies and practices. This absence of convergence matters because it indicates that agricultural extension and policy are influenced by a body of literature that is often not able to offer clear recommendations on the variables that can be used to design policy interventions. Our analysis suggests that, in general, researchers have been too focused on understanding the adopter and the general farming context, and too little concerned with understanding the performance of the technology itself.