| dc.description.abstract | This study has been carried out in a community of small-scale mixed farmers. The concern is to explain the farmers' differential response to the diffusion of coffee into the community given that the area has a high potential for the production of this cash crop. While some farmers have adopted the crop, others have not. It was felt that there was need to identify the positive and negative aspects of the farmers' attitudes toward agricultural innovations such as coffee which is not indegeneous to the community under study.
It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide a contribution to theory formation on strategies and tactics of planned organizational change and may serve as useful information in formulating policy programmes for agricultural development. The data that are presented have been derived from the existing literature on the subject, author's personal face-to face interview of the respondents and participant - observation of the members of the community.
The findings show that factors related to the socioeconomic
characteristics of farmers (e.g. age and formal education) and situational factors (e.g availability of credit facilities and labour) are not crucial for farmers' receptivity to coffee. Rather it is the change agents who matter. The major explanatory factor is farmers' awareness of the need for such an innovation. That awareness can, on
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the main, be cultivated by appropriate information from the agents of change. In other words there is need for greater agricultural extension services to enhance this awareness in farmers.
The work is presented in six chapters. The first chapter concentrates on some background information, the • problem of the study, objectives, and the rationale for the study. The second chapter is devoted to the literature review, theoretical frameworks and the generation of hypotheses. The third chapter is centred on the environmental setting of the study area, Ndivisi Location. The fourth chapter essentially deals with the methodology, while data presentation, analysis and interpretation form the core of the fifth chapter. Finally, conclusions and suggestions are presented in the last chapter. | en_US |
