000			03664nam a22003857a 4500
001			G63786
003			MX-TxCIM
005			20220603201612.0
008			121211s1997|f| mx |p||0|| | e eng d
022			_a1405-2830
040			_aMX-TxCIM
041			_aeng
072		0	_aE14
090			_aLook under series title
100	1		_aSoule, M.J. _97208
245	1	0	_aFarmer assessment of velvetbean as a green manure in Veracruz, Mexico : _bexperimentation and expected profits
260			_aMexico : _bCIMMYT, _c1996.
300			_av, 21 pages
340			_aPrinted
490			_aCIMMYT NRG Paper ; _v97-02 _x1405-2830
500			_aOpen Access
520			_aThis study explores factors associated with farmers' decision to experiment with velvetbean (Mucuna spp.), a green manure, as a maize intercrop in three villages of Veracruz, Mexico. To asses whether velvetbean might be adopted on a wide scale in the region, the study also examines variation in farmers' perceptions of profits achieved by using the velvetbean intercrop compared to the farmer's usual practice. A stratified random sample of 92 households was selected from three villages reflecting differing conditions in the study area. All farmers who participated in a velvetbean extension program in the previous year were included; a random sample was drawn of the remaining households in the villages. The analysis reveals that the current practice to which farmers compared the maize/velvetbean intercrop played an important role in the perceived profitability of the new technology. Farmers who used neither herbicides nor fertilizer perceived a much larger positive difference in expected profits than farmers who compared the velvetbean intercrop with maize production using fertilizer or herbicides or both. Farmers with opportunities to earn off-farm income were less likely to experiment with velvetbean. Thus velvetbean may be adoptable on a wide scale by poorer farmers with limited access to chemical inputs and off-farm employment. However, these conclusions should be qualified in several ways. First, this study did not account for the full costs of using modern chemicals. Second, since the study was conducted, falling maize prices, coupled with higher prices for chemical inputs and more restricted availability of credit, may have made the intercrop more attractive to farmers. Third, the study was conducted early in the technology dissemination process, and farmers' judgments are based on only limited experience with velvetbean. Future experimentation with velvetbean may develop a method that increases production and modifies labor needs so that velvetbean, or another green manure, becomes more acceptable to farmers. In addition, the use of a green manure in combination with inorganic fertilizer might prove acceptable to farmers and enhance the sustainability of maize production in ways that the use of chemical fertilizer alone could not do. It would also be useful if future research could assess whether using velvetbean as an intercrop is actually more sustainable than current practices or whether social benefits of wide-scale velvetbean adoption would be greater than social costs.
546			_aText in English
591			_a9704|AGRIS 9701|STAT97|R96CIMPU|DSpace 1
595			_aCPC
599			_a63786.jpg
650	1	7	_aInnovation adoption _91160 _2AGROVOC
650		7	_aFarmers _91654 _2AGROVOC
650	1	7	_aMaize _91173 _2AGROVOC
650	1	7	_aZea mays _91314 _2AGROVOC
651	1	0	_95256 _aVeracruz _2AGROVOC
651		7	_91318 _aMexico _2AGROVOC
856	4		_uhttp://hdl.handle.net/10883/942 _yOpen Access through DSpace
942			_cBK _2ddc
999			_c53134 _d53134