The impact of farmer training in Botswana in terms of its influence on farmers’
production efficiency is not well known. The objectives of this study have been to
investigate the factors that determine the adoption and non-adoption of
agricultural technologies, establish how farmers contribute to the training
program, and determine the impact of the knowledge gained from the training
program.
A structured questionnaire was administered to 223 respondents, from these
respondents 153 farmers attended training, twenty-one respondents were never
trained, thirty-three were frontline extension agents, nine support staff, five
instructors and two managers. The respondents were from five districts of
Kgatleng, Kweneng south, and Kweneng north, Kweneng west, and Southeast.
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The study revealed that intervening variables are the determinants of behaviour
change, and the effect of the independent variables is manifested in them. It was
established that age, education and farm size seems to have an influence on
adoption of technologies. While gender, farming experience, land ownership,
and membership to farmer organization did not influence adoption of
technologies.
The results indicated that most of the farmers were not involved in identifying the
courses they attended, as indicated by 65 percent of the respondents. This was
confirmed by 80 percent of respondents who indicated that extension agents
suggested the courses.
The findings of the study show that most of the respondents agreed that
knowledge gained from training is very useful. This was reported by 45 percent
of respondents who indicated moderate impact on their production due to
training, 46 percent indicated that they used the knowledge often, while 36
percent of respondents never used the knowledge since training.
The most important factor revealed by the study contributing to non-adoption of
technologies is lack of resources. This is related to need, perception and
participation of farmers in identifying the courses they attend.
During follow-ups made by extension staff on trained farmers, the results show
that the status of acquired knowledge is usually negative; this was stated by 64%
of the respondents, as such indicating that there was no implementation. This
affirms the fact that 36 percent of respondents never used the knowledge, while
36 percent did not realize any impact at all on their production efficiency due to
training. The study concluded that for training to be effective, extension has to
address the needs and perception of trainees. This will address lack of
resources, which contribute to non-adoption of technologies. Compatibility of
acquired knowledge to the situation of respondents is another factor to be
considered in training. It is concluded that the needs of respondents determine
adoption behaviour, which finally influences production efficiency. Based on the findings of this study, factors identified to influence adoption and
non-adoption of technologies and issues raised, it is recommended that more
research should be done to address implementation of acquired knowledge and
how to measure the impact of training.