Determinants of Farmers' Innovativeness in Alaba Woreda, Ethiopia

It has passed some 10,000 years since agriculture began. Since that time it was not shaped and improved by modern science but farmers. For the whole of that period farmers did not need extension agencies or other advisory services to carry out their activities. To select, breed, and tame hundreds of plants and animals for the benefit or existence of human kind farmers came up with ideas, carried out experiments and arrived at their own conclusions. Farmers are very resourceful in generating and testing new ideas. These local innovations by farmers are making a major contribution to agricultural development. In addition to this farmers innovation have served as a foundation for modern agricultural science. This book shows the extent to which farmers are creative and innovative. It recommends the ways in which modern science would exploit the untapped resources of farmers innovations to promote agricultural development. This book is of immense importance for Extension agencies, development professionals researchers, and policy makers.