Factors Influencing the Sustained Adoption of Innovative Techniques by Urban Farmers in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo

Maurice Kesonga Nsele, Jules Nkulu Mwine Fyama, Kevin Maréchal and Thomas Dogot
Additional contact information
Maurice Kesonga Nsele: Laboratory of Economics and Rural Development, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Passage des Déportés 2, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
Jules Nkulu Mwine Fyama: Agricultural Economics and Development Research Unit, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi 1825, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kevin Maréchal: Laboratory of Economics and Rural Development, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Passage des Déportés 2, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
Thomas Dogot: Laboratory of Economics and Rural Development, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Passage des Déportés 2, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: A package of innovations was disseminated in urban agriculture and created real opportunities for employment, income, and the supply of vegetables of high nutritional quality. However, ten years later, farmers are working for a daily income of less than United State Dollars 1.25, and critical exceedances of heavy metal content standards in crops are recorded. Survey data collected from 202 farmers were used to identify, via the Logit model, the factors influencing the sustained adoption of the of two contrasting innovations of the package. The results of the exploratory survey of 537 farmers showed that 2.42% owned a motor pump, while the in-depth survey revealed that 25.2% of the 202 respondents were using motor pumps at the time of the survey. A total of 74.8% watered with buckets and watering cans. The high cost of the motor pump makes it inaccessible to farmers. Some tried to circumvent this constraint, which led to group purchases. Integrated soil fertility management was used by 58.4% of respondents. In total, 41.6% applied only chemical fertilizers. However, Integrated soil fertility management has been hampered by farmers’ difficulties in accessing organic matter. The results of the Logit model revealed that no socio-demographic factors were significant for sustained adoption of the motor pump. They were relevant, rather, for integrated soil fertility management, where a single factor (mutual aid) appeared to play a role, albeit a moderate one. Economic factors such as land tenure status and diversification of income sources were significant for a sustained adoption of the motor pump. In contrast, no economic factors were significant for a sustained adoption of the integrated soil fertility management. Institutional factors such as access to credit and membership in an association were significant for sustained adoption of the two of innovations studied. A series of avenues to follow to improve the productivity of farms is proposed. We suggest an in-depth study of the mutual aid practiced by 86.1% of the farmers. The results of this study can be taken into account in research and policy aimed at improving adoption of innovative techniques that are beneficial to farmers in developing countries.

Keywords: urban agriculture; innovative techniques; sustained adoption; mutual aid; Lubumbashi; Democratic Republic of the Congo (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1157/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1157/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:8:p:1157-:d:880430

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().