Diffusion of innovation theory and integrated pest management

Abstract

The Diffusion of Innovation Theory dominated the theory and practice of agricultural extension system all over the world for almost half a century. It came under criticism too during the period. The theory was not considered adequate to manage the process of dissemination of IPM technology. The inadequacies may be due to the attributes of IPM innovation as well as due to the sophisticated demands of IPM technology that was not amenable to the limited version of the theory. The diffusion and adoption of agricultural innovation has been a focal measure of agriculture development. IPM is a combination of different technologies that has not diffused as other simple one of technologies. Diffusion of IPM requires educating the farmers for its adoption and it must deal with farmers' needs, perceptions, constraints, objectives and its complexity demands. IPM is location specific and it requires several years of experiments, trials, repetitions and validations in a given area. It requires a clear understanding about the IPM tactics. The IPM tactics may vary from crop to crop and area to area. It needs a planned strategy of imparting knowledge and skill and active learning and active adoption by the farmers. The diffusion of innovation research has to give up the ex-post-facto design, which has been a prisoner of socio-economic factors influencing the adoption of innovation and in correlating the effects to these factors. The diffusion researchers should employ action research design to study the IPM implementation and feed the result to develop farmer-acceptable IPM system. The coordination of all the stakeholders of agricultural innovation system need to emphasise the outcomes of technology and knowledge generation and adoption of IPM practices rather than merely strengthening of research and extension systems.