The commercial potential of passion fruit is expanding as demand for both
fresh fruit and processed juice is increasing in Burundi. Due to the current
situation with an unstable market of traditional crops for export, farmers in
Matongo have embraced passion fruit as a new source of household income. As
the crop generates substantial revenues for farmers, wholesalers and processors,
it is important to sustain this sector. The purpose of this research was to compare
four variants of diffusionist arguments (age, sex, household size and level of
education) and their expression into adoption. Comparative descriptive statistical
analysis between adopters and non-adopters to test the essential factors, and
participatory survey methods for gathering information were used. Our results
showed a highly significant difference between the category of adopters and nonadopters
at p < 0.01. However, no significant difference was found between
adopters and non-adopters within level of education. Data on the level of
education demonstrated that those with little or no education adopted more
passion fruit [illiterates (48.9%) and primary level (45.9%)] than these with
secondary level (5.2%). The heads of household adopters and non-adopters are
mainly men at a rate of 83.7 and 88.3 %, and household size was not a
discriminating factor. The factors that promote the adoption of passion fruit are
high yield and continuous production, high market demand and permanent source
of revenue. Defining only a few variables to analyse the adoption trend could
mislead our findings. A participatory approach seems most appropriate for
understanding adoption and non-adoption of innovation.