Open Access

Mega demonstrations embody the proverb "seeing is believing". They are central in creating demand and raising awareness for new technologies in international development. However, evidence of their effectiveness remains context-specific and scarce at best. We interviewed nearly 2,000 farmers in Malawi and Zambia who had attended mega demonstration events, hosted by partners of the ‘Southern Africa Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) Rapid Delivery Hub’, to assess learnings, intent to adopt, and actual adoption. The first round, conducted in June 2023, assessed learnings and intent to adopt, while the second round was undertaken around March 2024 to evaluate actual adoption. More than 80% of farmers who attended events at mega demonstrations learnt something new, with more than 50% highlighting new drought-tolerant maize varieties as their preferred choice. Mega demonstrations as a tool for experiential learning: Insights from Malawi and Zambia AID-I 1 Overall, we found a difference of 1- 4 percentage points between intent to adopt and the actual adoption of various technologies. The main drivers of adoption included yield potential, and easy and low cost of implementation. Over 65% of the farmers interviewed went on to adopt drought-tolerant maize varieties during the El-Niño-affected 2023/2024 season. The uptake of other innovations was lower but comparable to the intent to adopt figures. These results suggest a close correlation between the intent to adopt and the actual adoption, and suggest that mega demonstrations play a vital role in facilitating technology uptake. Several areas for improvement were identified, including the need to incorporate organic fertilizer and soil health, bundle demonstrations with other innovations such as advisories, and learning visits to enhance farmer knowledge and adoption.

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