It is reported that approximately 3.2 million tonnes of pesticides are utilized annually worldwide with advanced countries accounting for around 75% of the global figure. With the increasing awareness of sustainable agriculture, regulators are continuously striving to limit pesticide use and its negative impact on the environment and human health. Following the sustainable pesticide use directive 2009/128/EC by the EU, efforts are being made by all Member States to reduce the risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and the environment. In line with this, the NOVATERRA project is seeking to develop new innovations to reduce the use of contentious plant product products in Mediterranean vineyards and olive groves. With the increasing use of technology in agriculture, new innovations and technologies such as those being developed under NOVATERRA will continue to emerge. However, the key concern is that no matter how relevant or useful these new innovations are, they need to be accepted and adopted by their targets for their intended purpose to be achieved. Thus, the acceptance of new technologies is therefore as important as their development. It is important that research is able to predict the likelihood of adoption of new innovations in order to inform potential innovators if their technologies and innovations will achieve the right results. In this study, we first identify and categorize the main triggers behind the adoption of new technologies and innovations among grape and olive growers in four case study countries using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP). With the help of the proportional discrete choice experiment and the LOGIT model, the willingness of grape and olive farmers to accept (WTA) and to pay (WTP) for the alternative technologies developed under the NOVATERRA project is estimated. The results of the AHP and the LOGIT model are used to estimate the probability of adoption of alternative innovations. The result gives a guide to the researchers to predict the extent to which farmers will adopt new technology.
By Noah Larvoe and Zein Kallas
Center for Agro-Food Economics and Development, CREDA
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – UPC
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