F UNDAMENTACIÓN DE LA METODOLOGÍA UTILIZADA

The initial RAA questionnaires in the Alaotra region, inquiring about attitudes and related factors, were done with a sample of 97 smallholder farmers. From those 97 farmers, 47 were located in the villages around Mahatsara, South of Ambatondrazaka, referred to as ‘the South’. 50 Farmers were located in the villages east of Lake Alaotra, in the villages around Ambalakondro, North of Ambatondrazaka, referred to as ‘the North’ (see map in methodology section 4.5.2). In total, 40 farmers (41%) in the sample were a member of the ABACO groups, of which 25 where male and 15 female. Out of the 57 non-members there were 34 male and 23 female. In the total sample there

49 CA-SARD (Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development) was a project that was active in Laikipia from 2004 to 2010, in two phases.

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were 38 female farmers (39%). In the repeat sample of 82 farmers, there were 31 female farmers (38%), and a total of 38 members (46%). As in Kenya, the proportion of female respondents remained the same, but the proportion of members in the repeat sample was higher than in the initial sample, and to avoid a bias in the result, the panel data of the second sample was used for all the analysis in this chapter. The average age of the sample was almost 46 years and was distributed more equally among the different age groups than in Kenya. Contrary to Kenya, the group members were significantly younger than the non-members (see Table 7-2).

Some more characteristics of the sample are given in Table 7-2, distinguishing between members and non-members, and between the two study sites. The average total land under cultivation in 2015 was 2 ha, with an average of 0.6 ha of tanety, 0,6 ha of baiboho and 0.8 ha of rice paddies.

The total land under cultivation was significantly higher for members (2.5 ha) than non-members (1.3 ha), and not statistically significant different, but substantially (but not statistically significant) higher in the South (2.5 ha) than in the North (1.6 ha). Compared to farmers in the South, farmers in the North have significantly more tanety (0.8 and 0.4 ha respectively) and less rice paddies (0.3 and 1.4 ha respectively). Members have significantly more tanety than non-members (0.8 and 0.4 ha respectively). The average experience with CA is 3.8 years, and is significantly higher for members (5 years) than non-members who still have a substantial experience with CA of 3 years.

On average, 76% of the total household income is derived from agriculture. In the South, this is 85% which is significantly higher than the 67% in the North. This is linked to the larger surface area of rice which brings in a lot of money. Farmers in the South also have more cattle than those in the North (5.2 and 3.7 heads of cattle respectively). Again, this is linked with the importance of rice paddies, where cattle is important for transport and ploughing, and fodder is widely available from the rice stems.

Table 7-2 Characteristics of sample according to membership and location of groups in Madagascar n Mean overall Mean

members Mean

non-members Sign. Mean

North Mean

South Sign.

Age 84 46.1 50.0 42.6 ** 47.9 44.2 *

Land cultivated in 2015 (ha) 84 2.02 2.49 1.26 ** 1.59 2.45

Tanety (ha) 84 0.59 0.78 0.42 ** 0.79 0.39 *

Baiboho (ha) 84 0.59 0.78 0.43 0.52 0.67

Rice Paddy (ha) 84 0.84 0.93 0.76 0.28 1.40 **

Percentage of income from agriculture 84 76 76.1 75.7 67.0 84.8 **

Percentage of production for consumption 83 53 48.8 57.4 57.2 49.6

Heads of cattle 84 4.4 4.6 4.3 3.7 5.2 *

Family labour (persons) 84 3.0 2.8 3.3 2.6 3.5 **

Experience with CA (yr) 84 4.2 5.2 3.3 ** 4.4 4.0

Mann-Whitney test: **=significant at 0.01 level. *= significant at 0.05 level

175 7.3 Internal reliability of variables

For reasons described in section 4.9.5 Greater Lower Bounds (GLB, for three-item scales) and Spearman Brown (SB, for two-item scales) coefficients were determined in addition to Cronbach’s alpha to evaluate the internal consistency and reliability of the various multi-item RAA constructs (Table 7-3). The calculated GLB and SB values did not differ much from the Cronbach’s alpha values. In general, the values below 0.5 were considered unsatisfactory, but although the perceived behavioural control (PBC) of ploughing in Madagascar was 0.6, it was considered unsatisfactory as the statistics were below 0.5 for the PBC of all other practices in Madagascar.

Table 7-3 Internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha, Greater Lower Bounds (GLB) and Spearman-Brown (SB)) of multi-item scales for various CA practices in Kenya and Madagascar

Construct: Attitude Perceived Norms Perceived

Behavioural

N = number of valid case on which calculation is based

* = Scale reliability unsatisfactory. Items of this construct are used separately in further analysis.

In Kenya, the RAA constructs were considered satisfactory and support the assumption that the items are an expression of the same underlying variable, although the internal consistency appears to be on the low side for spraying herbicides. In Madagascar, GLB values for attitudes were

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satisfactory, while SB coefficients for the PBC were considered too low for all actions. For perceived norms, alpha and SB were considered too low for the actions spraying herbicides and mulching, and were therefore deconstructed in the further analyses, including the regression analysis of intentions reported in section 7.3. In those cases, social norms were split up in injunctive norms and descriptive norms, and PBC was split up in perceived ease and perceived control.

The very high alpha coefficients found for the attitude construct, especially in Kenya, suggest that the items did not fully succeed in exploring the whole breadth and diversity of the variable. During the interviews it was sometimes observed that farmers would repeat the same answers for the three attitude items (good, wise, pleasant), probably because the questions were closely related and also as a way to move through the questionnaire more quickly. For future work with the RAA methodology, more diverse questions should be considered for the attitude construct that require respondents to reconsider their answer on the basis of different information.

177 7.4 Average values of RAA variables 7.4.1 Kenya

The average values of the RAA constructs for Kenyan farmers who intend and those who do not intend to adopt the CA practices are given in Figure 7-1 and Figure 7-2 (precise values are given in Appendix table VIII-1). As explained in the methodology section 4.9.5, intenders refer to those who judged it ‘likely’ to ‘very likely’ they would adopt that practice in the next season and non-intenders refer to those farmers who answered ranging from ‘very unlikely’ to ‘not sure’. Adopters and non-adopters were simply assessed as a dichotomous variable (yes-no). Mulching shows the highest number of intenders and adopters, with 63 and 64 farmers respectively, while CA shows the lowest number of intenders with 34 farmers, and spraying herbicides is the least adopted practice with 37 farmers. Generally, the calculated averages are significantly higher for intenders.

The exceptions were mulching and CA, where perceived norms are not significantly different from non-intenders. Although adoption levels are significantly higher for intenders, quite some farmers adopt without having shown the intention, or do not adopt despite having shown the intention. Both types of non-intentionality occur roughly in similar measures. Only 27 farmers acted according to their intentions on all actions, while 23 farmers diverted from their intentions on only one practice and 26 farmers diverted from their intentions on more than one practice.

Attitudes towards mulching are, although significantly higher for intenders, very positive for both intenders and non-intenders, suggesting that the effects of mulching are considered to be positive by most farmers, even if they do not intend to practice it. For the other practices, intenders and non-intenders showed very different attitudes, especially for shallow weeding and direct planting. The perceived norms are rather neutral for all actions and not significantly different for intenders and non-intenders of CA. Perceived behavioural control was much higher for intenders, especially for spraying herbicides and direct planting, suggesting that not everyone feels readily able of adopting these practices, even if they wanted to. The underlying reasons behind these observed intention and adoption levels are further explored through regression analyses.

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Intenders PBC = Perceived Behavioural Control Non-intenders ** = Statistically significant at 0.01 level

Attitudes Social Norms PBC

Attitudes Social Norms PBC

Attitudes Social Norms PBC

Figure 7-1 Average values of RAA constructs for the various CA practices in Kenya

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