Factors affecting the adoption of compost use by farmers in small tropical Caribbean islands
2017
Paul, Jacky | Sierra, Jorge | Causeret, François | Guinde, Loic | Blazy, Jean-Marc | Agrosystèmes tropicaux (ASTRO) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) | Ph.D. fellowship: the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME). Etude: Conseil Départemental de la Guadeloupe (Grant No 41-000/211) ; Office de l'Eau de la Guadeloupe (Grant No 41-000/405).
Although the use of composts is considered as an option for recycling organic wastes and replacing chemical fertilizers in Caribbean agriculture, little is known about the factors that might encouragefarmers to adopt this practice. The aim of this study was to identify the determinants of compostadoption in French West Indies, considering both commercial and on-farm produced composts. A surveyincluding 520 farmers covering a broad range of agro-ecological regions and cropping systems wasperformed to characterize current uses of compost and the perception of constraints by farmers. Fourteenbiophysical and socio-economic variables were included in a logit regression model to explaincompost adoption. The adoption rate was 18%, which is relatively low because it was not limited bycompost availability. Most adopters declared that they apply composts as an organic amendment and toreplace chemical fertilizers to reduce pollution risks. Nearly 60% of adopters apply composts manuallyand 80% use commercial products. The labour intensity of manual application, the cost of the practiceand the lack of information about compost quality were the principal constraints highlighted by noadopter farmers. Compost adoption varied with the cropping system and farmer characteristics. Theadoption rate was 40% for banana planters (used as organic fertilizer) and only 3% for sugarcane planters.The experience of farmers and their level of education had a positive effect on adoption, whereas farmerage and a lack of professional organisation affected it negatively. Several levers need to be combined toincrease both the adoption rate and the specific rate in sugarcane, which represents one third of theagriculture land. This includes subsidies so that peasant associations can purchase spreaders adapted to different cropping systems, and the development of efficient knowledge dissemination channels.
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