Title: Farmers' mobilisation of social capital for beneficial uptake of technological innovations in southwest Nigeria

Authors: Oluwaseun Kolade; Trudy Harpham

Addresses: Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, SE1 0AA, London, UK ' Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, SE1 0AA, London, UK

Abstract: Social capital has been identified as an important factor influencing successful uptake of technological innovations among small-scale, rural farmers in developing countries. This study draws on descriptive statistics and regression analysis of data obtained from 325 farmers in southwest Nigeria to examine the effectiveness of social capital mobilised by rural farmers. The results indicate farmers' cooperatives are, because of their stronger organisational capacity and formal structure, able to generate more effective social capital for information sharing and linking up with important external organisations providing technical and financial support for successful adoption of innovations.

Keywords: social capital; technological innovation; farming cooperatives; agricultural production; Nigeria; agriculture; small-scale farmers; rural areas; innovation adoption; technology adoption; developing countries; information sharing; technical support; financial support.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTLID.2014.065882

International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 2014 Vol.7 No.2, pp.147 - 166

Received: 12 Aug 2014
Accepted: 14 Aug 2014
Published online: 17 Dec 2014 *

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