Social capital as a determinant of farmlevel sustainable land management adoption : a case study of smallholder farmers in Northern Benin

Sammanfattning: In many developing countries high rates of farmland degradation contribute to the low performance of smallholder agriculture and pose serious policy challenges. Despite promotion efforts by government and non-governmental organizations adoption of improved agricultural production technologies remains low in Sub-Saharan Africa. This thesis examines the role of social capital in enhancing the adoption of sustainable land management (SLM) though smallholder farmers in northern Benin. In particular, the thesis focuses on how group membership, market and family networks, participation in extension programmes and the quality of social capital influences the adoption and extent of adoption of SLM practices. The analysis of household’s adoption behaviour is based on an interdisciplinary conceptual framework and cross-sectional data collected though a household survey among 200 randomly selected households in two villages in northern Benin. Exploratory principal component analysis is used to categorise and combine the 14 considered SLM practices into components. Linear regression models are applied to analyses the effect of social capital on the adoption of the five SLM components and an ordered probit model is used to examine the effect on the extent of SLM adoption. The results underscore the importance of social capital especially identifying, linking, bridging and the quality of social capital. The study demonstrates that households’ adoption decisions are determined by the perception of the land quality, location, ethnicity, participation in development projects, farm size, livestock ownership as well as access to credit and extension service. Policies that target SLM and are aimed at organizing farmers into associations, improving market networks, adjusting extension services to local societies and promoting awareness can increase the uptake of SLM in smallholder systems and are therefore means to food security and poverty reduction.