Adoption of Promoted Practices

The indicator measures the extent to which the target group members correctly use the desired climate-smart / sustainable / environmentally friendly / other agronomic practices (such as practices reducing erosion / retaining water in soil / increasing the content of nutrients in an environmentally friendly manner, etc.). The fulfillment of such an indicator is among the main pre-conditions for achieving the desired outcomes of agricultural interventions.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Make a list of the promoted agronomic practices.

2) For each practice, specify what it means to ‘correctly use the agronomic practice’: what exactly needs to be done, how, with what materials, for what purpose, etc. Use both qualitative (e.g. type of inputs; type of crop / plant / animal varieties) and quantitative (e.g. distance, area) specifications. For example, in the context of your project, ‘intercropping’ might mean ‘combined sowing of the maize and haricot beans in rows with approx. 40cm spacing to increase the content of soil nutrients and maize yields’. At the same, avoid using unnecessarily narrow definitions of the promoted measures, as each measure needs to be adapted to the local context.

3) For each practice, define who can realistically implement it. For example, define who is 1) supposed and 2) able to follow the practice. For example, you should not ask farmers who have no cattle about integrated agriculture. Similarly, there is no point in asking farmers who do not have fields on sloping land about terraces. 

4) For each practice, design interview questions that will help you determine 1) whether the respondent can / should use the practice, 2) whether the respondent has used the practice in the given period, and 3) if so, whether the practice was used correctly. Ensure that all questions are specific enough without leading the respondent to a particular answer. For example, instead of asking directly: “During the last season, have you used intercropping?”, you can ask: “There are different practices that farmers can use to ensure that the soil in which they grow maize has enough nutrients and they get a good yield. Can you please tell me about all the practices you applied  during the last year when growing maize?“ Keep probing: “What else did you do to ensure that the soil had enough nutrients for your maize to grow well?” If the respondent mentions intercropping, assess whether it was done correctly by asking, for example: “Can you please explain to me how exactly you used this practice?”

5) If you are assessing the usage of several agronomic practices, decide on how many practices a respondent needs to use in order to be considered ‘correctly using the promoted agronomic practices’ (e.g. whether it is sufficient that s/he is correctly using at least one practice or whether s/he needs to be correctly using, for example, at least two thirds of the promoted practices).

6) Conduct interviews with a representative sample of the target group members, assessing:

   - whether the given practice is relevant to them (e.g. it does not make sense to ask a farmer who did not grow maize whether s/he used intercropping of maize with beans)

   - if so, whether s/he used the practice during the given period

   - if so, whether s/he used the practice correctly

7) To calculate the indicator’s value:

   - count the number of people for whom the promoted agronomic practices are relevant and who used them correctly in the given period

   - divide this number by the total number of people for whom the practices are relevant

   - multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage

Disaggregate the data by gender, age group, location, and other criteria relevant to the context and focus of your intervention.

1) It is recommended that you ask respondents who do not use the promoted practices why they do not use them (i.e. what is discouraging or preventing them from their use).

2) Ensure that the enumerators have a good technical understanding of the promoted practices; otherwise they will not be able to conclude whether a respondent has used the practice correctly or not.

3) Even if a respondent (e.g. a farmer) used the promoted practice, s/he might have done so to a limited extent only (e.g. on a small portion of her/his land only). Therefore, consider also assessing the extent to which the practices were applied – for example, on how many hectares of land (see also this indicator).