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Typology of Irrigation Technology Adopters in Oil Palm Production: A Categorical Principal Components and Fuzzy Logic Approach

Authors :
Beltran, Diana Martínez-Arteaga
Nolver Atanasio Arias Arias
Aquiles E. Darghan
Carlos Rivera
Jorge Alonso
Source :
Sustainability; Volume 15; Issue 13; Pages: 9944
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2023.

Abstract

Oil palm is the second most cultivated oilseed crop in the world after soybeans, with more than 23 million hectares cultivated worldwide; it has become crucial for the economy of many countries. In Colombia, it is one of the most developed agricultural sectors, and every year the sector promotes the development of technologies that lead to greater sustainability of agricultural and food systems and address the challenges and opportunities of agribusiness. In this research, the central focus was the adoption of irrigation technologies, which is limited despite significant efforts and investments in physical and human capital. On many occasions, the typology of farmers has been associated with low technology implementation. Thus, linking the typology of farmers according to certain commonalities or differences is an essential step in exploring the factors that explain the adoption. In addition, the ranking also helps in the understanding of existing adoption constraints, as well as finding opportunities for change. This study aimed to determine the socioeconomic and demographic typology of those who adopt irrigation technologies. The analysis was performed using categorical principal component analysis to reduce dimensionality and fuzzy cluster analysis to classify the groups. As a result, four groups of producers that differ in terms of their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics were obtained, where the groups “population with female leadership” and “diversified population” were the adopters of irrigation technologies. The most outstanding characteristics of these two groups were the profitability of the harvest and the age of the producers. Determining the typology of farmers is a fundamental step in expanding the technology adoption process through agricultural extension services, which represent a way of reaching producers directly. In addition, these results allow decision makers to participate in this dynamic reflectively and intentionally (such as governments, researchers, and technology transferors).

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20711050
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Sustainability; Volume 15; Issue 13; Pages: 9944
Accession number :
edsair.multidiscipl..b34e41a95caf391d02718b7781504a54
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139944