Factors Affecting Farmers’ Adoption of Improved Irish Potato Seed Production Technologies in South Western Uganda

In a bid to improve farm productivity, the Community Connector project in partnership with the Uganda National Seed Potato Association (UNSPA) and Kachwekano Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (KAZARDI) continue to extend training support in quality seed production techniques of Positive Seed Selection and Small Seed Plot techniques to small holder farmers in in Kisoro and Kanungu districts of Western Uganda. Despite progress in implementation, adoptions of the technologies remain low. This article provides empirical evidence on the socio-economic and institutional factors affecting adoption of the technologies. Evidence is based survey data from 140 Irish potato farmers who benefited from the training support on the technologies. The data was collected using a questionnaire and through key informant interviews. The analysis mainly utilized the Binary Logit to predict the likelihood of adoption. Results indicated that gender, perception of technology as beneficial as well as access to extension services and markets had a positive and significant effect on adoption of Irish potato seed production technologies (p<0.05). Male farmers were about eleven times more likely to adopt the technologies than females. Those who had access to extension services were 32 times more likely to adopt the technologies than those with limited access. Similarly, those who had access to credit were 3 times more likely to adopt the technologies than those with limited access. The results affirmative that adoption of Irish potatoes seed is influenced by social, economic and institutional factors. The findings open insight into the need for strategic orientation of interventional measures to enhance technology adoption for enhanced farm productivity