Factors Influencing the Adoption and Utilization of Selected Agricultural Technologies by Cotton Farmers in Zimbabwe

A multi-pronged survey of secondary literature was adopted. Journal papers, institutional publications, research reports, conference proceedings, and internet websites were consulted in gathering data for this study. It is believed that low rates of technological uptake and the failure by farmers to realize productivity increases are chiefly a result of inappropriate agricultural extension models. Despite the declining world demand and falling international prices of cotton, cotton is nevertheless still an important crop for employment creation and foreign currency generation in Zimbabwe. Thus its production should continue to receive technical, institutional, fiscal and financial support in Zimbabwe. Income from cotton sales is used to finance household expenditures, particularly in the major cotton producing belts of the country. However, unsustainable cultivation methods and inappropriate land husbandry practices by cotton farmers have led to extensive land degradation and depletion of soils. Other constraints militating against the viability of smallholder cotton farming include high cost of variable inputs such as pesticides and soil fertility amendments (fertilizers), the incidence of pests and diseases, frequent and devastating droughts, and lack of price incentives for cotton producers. Two recent innovations for reducing land degradation, eliminating pest damage, increasing agricultural productivity, enhancing environmental sustainability, and improving human health, are conservation tillage and integrated production and pest management. Some of the factors which influence the adoption of cotton technologies include user awareness, education level of the farmer, access to extension services, availability of labour and animal draft power. Policy efforts should therefore aim at intensifying the use of farmer field schools, raising education levels in the rural areas, increasing the extension worker-to-farmer ratios in cotton producing areas, more emphasis on labour-saving components of these technologies, and cattle restocking exercises to promote draft power availability among smallholders.