13th Congress Proceedings
Possible Predictors Determining The Adoption Of Potatoes (solanum Tuberosum) Into A Wheat- (triticum Aestivum) Based Cropping System In Mokhotlong, Lesotho
The main objective of the study was to identify possible predictors of adoption of potatoes into a wheat-based cropping system. In this study nine explanatory variables were tested against two dependent variables (p 0,15). The explanatory variables were gender, age, training, land ownership, soil type, household size, number of household members below the age of six (< 6) years, number of household members between 6 and 18 years of age and farming experience. The dependent variables tested were: crops adopted by farmers and household knowledge on soil fertility. Of all the nine explanatory variables tested against crops adopted, only two categorical variables, namely training (p=0,11) and land ownership (p=0,09), and one continuous variable, farming experience (p=0,02), were significant possible predictors. Of all the three variables (gender, age and training) tested against household knowledge on soil fertility, only gender emerged as a significant possible predictor (p=0,01). Farmers’ years of experience and level of knowledge on soil fertility indicated a significant relationship (p=0,00) with a correlation coefficient of 0,25.