The problem of the introduction of technical innovations in rural area : Process of adoption and diffusion of new varieties of rice in the Boundoum agricultural Sector (Central Delta of the River Senegal). Master’s thesis in Sociology undertaken at the University of St. Louis, Senegal; submitted by Djissangouley Coly. 138 pages. December 1998.

In Senegal, the policy of irrigated rice-growing development in the Delta and the River Senegal Valley is underlain in by one main objective : food self-sufficiency. The prospect of food self-sufficiency itself derives from an intention to restore the equilibrium of the balance of trade in Senegal, annually disturbed by rice imports.

In fact, (i) inspite of the raising of water constraint through the building of the Diama and Manantali dams on the River Senegal, (ii) the introduction in the farming environment of a « technological package » supposed to be successful and (iii) the grouping of farmers from that region within Farmers’ Organisations supposed to give access to agricultural bank credit, it is obvious that rice-growing in that region of Senegal has not put all the hopes placed in it in concrete form. By way of proof : with more than 500.000 tons of yearly rice imports up to now, Senegal is, more than ever before, dependent on its rice imports and then very far from food self-sufficiency.

Among the many explanatory factors of this semi failure in the development policy of irrigated rice-growing in the Delta and the River Senegal, only one is outstanding in the present study : it is the problem of the adoption and diffusion of the proposals of technical innovations deriving from Agricultural Research.

In 1994, three new rice varieties called Sahel 108, Sahel 201, and Sahel 202 were introduced by Public Authorities for the Delta farmers of the River Senegal. Through the analysis of the reactions of the area farmers towards the introduction of these rice varieties, this study as tried to answer the following question : Which factors influence the adoption and diffusion process of new rice varieties for the Delta farmers of the River Senegal ?

With regard to the complexity of the object of this study – the adoption and diffusion process of innovations – and taking into account of its multidimensional character involving at the individual level, at the same time, a psycho-sociological dimension, a sociological and an anthropo-sociological dimension, the present study has chosen a triangulation of methods. So, it has use three but complementary techniques of data collection : personal interviews, group discussions or focus-groups and life stories.

Thanks to these different data collecting techniques as well as the entailed collecting tools, this study has been able to grasp the main factors which influence the adoption or on the contrary the rejection of innovations concerning rice varieties among the Delta farmers of the River Senegal.

So, the adoption of the innovations does not only cope with technical criteria ; contrary to a common idea in agronomical circles according to which the adoption was something obvious because the innovation would always provide advantages with regard to the techniques existing before. It does not take into account either, only of social criteria as some sociologists would have it, considering information and cultural characteristics of innovations as outstanding factors in the adoption. Finally, contrary to what is supported by the economic approach, the adoption of an innovation does not only depend on the economic profitability of the latter.

Because the Delta farmer of River Senegal is at the same time, a farmer, a social actor and an economic agent, the process leading to his decision to adopt or not, a new variety of rice is strongly influenced by, not only one type of factors, but on the contrary, a conjunction of technical, social and economic factors.

The technical factors influencing the adoption and diffusion process of a rice variety in the Central Delta refer to agronomical and organoleptics characteristics of the so-called variety. Concretely, the following characteristics are concerned : the profitability, the culinary quality, salinity tolerance, resistance to downbeating, resistance to lodging, beauty of grain, weight of grain, manufacturing profitability and rusticity.

The outstanding economic factors in the adoption and diffusion of a new variety in the Delta area of the River Senegal are respectively located upstream and downstream of the agricultural output. Upstream from the agricultural output, there is its funding system, which can direct the innovation process. So, the existence of an agricultural bank credit is a favourable factor for the adoption and diffusion of a new variety. Downstream, the law of the market, through the demands of tradespeople who buy rice from farmers, can effectively influence the innovation process.

Finally, the social factors of the adoption refer, on the one hand to the importance of the local organisation of the rice channel, meaning that the adoption of a new rice variety is first of all in the hands of Farmers’ Organisations before being that of individual farmers. On the other hand, the complex process of offensive and defensive strategies which are implemented by farmers are significant in the innovation process and is viewed more as a forwarding than a brake in the so-called process.

However, a conjunction of favourable technical, economic and social factors could not be sufficient to explain the massive, global, quick and simple adoption of new varieties of rice in the Delta area of the River Senegal. In this respect, it seems that in the history of the exploitation of the Delta area of the River Senegal, the supervisorial approach that leaves little possibility for farmers initiative has proved less efficient with regard to the innovation process than the participatory one based on the self-management abilities of farmers. Definitively, it is obvious that the free trade in the local rice channel having involved in the implication of farmers in the supplying of seeds and popularizing of innovations, has been used as a catalyst for the adoption and diffusion process of new varieties of rice in the Delta area of the River Senegal.