Abstract

JIMENEZ-CARRASCO, Juan Salvador; RENDON-MEDEL, Roberto; DIAZ-JOSE, Julio  and  SEGURA-SALAZAR, Citlalli Melissa. No one innovates more than their relationships allow: The case of small farmers. Ecosistemas y recur. agropecuarios [online]. 2023, vol.10, n.spe3, e3718.  Epub Aug 26, 2024. ISSN 2007-901X.  https://doi.org/10.19136/era.a10niii.3718.

Counteracting the confrontation between productive systems established by humans for food production and natural systems that sustain life and climate requires the adoption of innovations, aimed at responsible production and reduction of biodiversity loss. The objective of this work was to analyze the role of social relations in the adoption of agricultural innovations in small corn producers, within the framework of a national extension process. Paired data from 14 770 smallholders, from 2017 and 2018, from 15 entities in central and southern Mexico were used. The information was analyzed using social network indicators and a logit model. The findings show that the probability (P < 0.01) of adopting innovations from one year to the next increases if producers develop relationships with better connected actors in the network (change in radiality), expand the number of clients and have greater planted area. Producers with greater change in radiality establish patterns of adoption of sustainable innovations that allow them to maintain or improve their yields, decreasing land degradation and biodiversity loss. This implies that learning linkages are more important than other variables such as age or schooling of the farmer to promote changes in innovation levels. It is advisable to reconfigure extension models to promote learning linkages and the generation of social capital.

Keywords : Social network analysis; productive communication; logit model; extension services; learning linkages.

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