Explaining drivers of farmers’ willingness for early adoption of enhanced irrigation technologies: Case of Tunisia

• Ali Chebil ^[1] ; Chokri Thabet ^[2] ; Zouhair Rached ^[1] ; Wafa Koussani ^[4] ; Asma Souissi ^[2] ; Marco Setti ^[3]
  1. [1] University of Carthage

     University of Carthage

     Túnez

     
  2. [2] University of Sousse

     University of Sousse

     Túnez

     
  3. [3] University of Bologna

     University of Bologna

     Bolonia, Italia

     
  4. [4] University of Carthage, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT), Tunisia

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• Localización: New medit: Mediterranean journal of economics, agriculture and environment = Revue méditerranéenne d'economie, agriculture et environment, ISSN 1594-5685, Vol. 23, Nº. 1, 2024, págs. 95-102
• Idioma: inglés
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  • The objective of this paper is to identify the influencing factors of farmers’ willingness for early adoption of enhanced irrigation technologies in Tunisia. We estimate a multinomial logit model with data from 931 farmers in Central (Chebika) and Northern (Fernana) of Tunisia. Regression results reveal that early adoption is positively influenced by levels of extension service quality, trust in farmers’ associations and extension agents, farmer’s perception towards the innovation, credit access, and off-farm income. However, it is negatively affected by market access issues, risk aversion, and age. Risk, trust, and perception towards technology are important factors in driving early adoption decision. The findings imply that farmers training on water conservation technologies, financial support for innovation adoption, awareness of young farmers about the opportunities of agricultural innovation, incentives to farmers’ associations in order to improve their market access, and inclusive participatory approaches during technology generation and transfer are all accelerators of early adoption of innovations by farmers.