Agricultural & CC

1. AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABLITY AND
CLIMATE CHANGE: HOW FARMERS
PERCEIVE SOIL TESTING BENEFITS IN
NORTHERN HAITI
Sènakpon KOKOYE
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, College of Agriculture, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 36849, USA.
sek0013@auburn.edu
Fifth International Conference on Climate Change Adaptation 2016
15-16 October 2016, Toronto, Canada
” Challenges & Issues in adaptation”

2. Introduction
 Agricultural production in the context of climate change in ---innovative
technologies that will help to boost the production and feed the growing
population.
 However, the adoption process and farmers involvement in the process of
diffusion has not been an easy task for developers.
 Many factors such as environmental, cultural, socio-economics and
demographics play majors role in the success of integrating innovation or
novel input in agricultural production

3. Introduction
 Soil testing is extensively used in developed countries to advance agricultural
production.
 The soil testing services to farmers has recently emerged in developing
countries as a mean of improve soil quality in the prospect of increasing
agricultural productivity.
 In order to adequately integrate soil testing in farmers habits and increase use
of it,
 We believe farmers knowledge and perception are important to evaluate.

4. Introduction
 The purpose of this paper is to investigate farmers' knowledge and
perceptions of soil testing benefits and factors affecting their behaviors.
Specifically, this study has two objectives:
 (1) to describe farmers' knowledge and perceptions about soil testing benefits
and fertilizers use; and
 (2) to determine if socio-economics and demographics factors affect farmers'
knowledge and perceptions of soil testing benefits and

5. Method
 Data were collected from 452 farmers randomly selected from a list provided
by AVANSE/USAID project officer.
 A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on farmers’ socio-
economics and demographics.
 Farmers’ knowledge and perception were also collected using five point
Likert scale

6. Method
 The single index was constructed for the benefit of soil testing.
Where Qi is the response rate to the ith factor, Wi is the weight of the ith factor
and K is the overall number of responses.
 In addition, an econometric model was built using ordered probit model to
investigate on factors affecting their knowledge and perceptions.

7. Method
 In addition, an econometric model was built using ordered probit model to
investigate on factors affecting their knowledge and perceptions.

8. Results
Figure 5: Responses to survey items, North Haiti farm survey 2016
Too much fertilizer pollute
the environment
Soil testing helps farmers
apply the right amount
Using too much fertilizer
means wasting money
Insufficient fertilizers
reduces crop yield.
Insufficient fertilizers reduce
plant growth
Soil testing generates
information on fertilizer
requirements
49%
41%
50%
50%
49%

9. Results
 The econometric model shows that factors affecting farmers’ perceptions
and knowledge of soil testing benefits are:
 age,
 educational level,
 contact with extension services,
 experience in agriculture, and
 income level

10. Conclusions
 In general farmers knowledge and perceptions vary depend on the items;
 Factors affecting their knowledge need to take into account for technology
diffusion;
 Training on soil testing benefits are important to raise awareness of soil
testing benefits

11. Thank you!