The paper Smallholder farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding agricultural inputs with a focus on agricultural biologicals was published in the journal Helyon as part of the AgriFoSe2030 project. It is written by researchers close to SIANI’s expert group on agrobiologicals and will influence the work of the group.
While the market for and use of biologicals is growing quickly in industrialized countries, this practice remains limited in sub-Saharan Africa. To understand why, a group of researchers examined the knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward biologicals among 150 smallholder farmers in the Chole district in Ethiopia.
All farmers used chemical pesticides and/or inorganic fertilizers to protect crops, improve yields, and comply with government regulations. The use of biologicals was, however, restricted to one group of biologicals, bio-fertilizers, which approximately 60% of farmers used, and no use of biologicals for plant protection was reported. Even though the understanding of the concept of biologicals was deemed high among respondents, the majority (90%) did not identify biologicals as safer alternatives to conventional agricultural inputs. More than half of the respondents (54%) did not recommend biologicals as safer alternatives to their colleagues. Nevertheless, even if the responding farmers did not perceive biologicals as risk-free, they had a positive attitude towards biologicals when it came to producing healthy food and increasing crop yields and incomes. In comparison to the positive attitude, farmers’ knowledge and practice of biologicals were generally low.
The lead author Tewodros Mulugeta is co-convener for the SIANI expert group in Ethiopia, while Allan Mueke and Cecilia Onyango perform the same function in Kenya. Mueke and Onyango have previously conducted a similar Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) survey on agrobiologicals comparing Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa. They noted that the level of interest was similar in the three countries, but that the extent of research and regulation varied.