Upland crop technologies in Cambodia: economic evaluations and some adoption issues

• Main Authors: Farquharson, Robert J, Scott, J. Fiona, Sareth, Chea
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: adoption; Cambodia; Crop Production/Industries; economic assessment; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; New technology; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; social; upland crops

Agricultural research and development (R&D) has being conducted in the uplanddistricts of Cambodia to develop new farming systems and crop managementtechnologies. Levels of farm income in these areas are relatively low due to smallfarm sizes and low crop productivity. Work is also planned to encourage the processof adoption of these technologies, and here we investigate how this process can befacilitated. A literature review identifies two important technology characteristics,‘relative advantage’ and ‘trialability’, for successful adoption. Minimum or targetrates of return on investment in new technologies are discussed as a means ofinvestigating how much improvement in relative advantage might be enough toencourage successful adoption of the technology. A number of economic assessmentsof new crop methodologies in Cambodian upland districts and farming systems arepresented. Some technologies show an encouraging return on investment from theviewpoint of the Cambodian farmer – rhizobium inoculation of soybean seed had anindicated return of up to 600% on the investment depending on the cost to the grower.Other issues are also likely to be important in discussing change to farming systems,for instance social issues in the village/community context. We present a proposal fora participatory learning process in which economic and social issues are highlighted,to encourage adoption of new crop technologies in local Cambodian contexts.