Mobilizing a Collective Response: Farmer Awareness of the Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica) and its Impacts on Trinidad Agriculture

This study used Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory theoretical framework to explain the adoption of the eradication methods of the Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica) by farmers in Trinidad and Tobago. The purpose of this study was to understand the influence of selected factors on the adoption of eradication methods/programs for the Giant African Snail (GAS) by farmers. A cross-sectional design was used for this study. Analytical and descriptive analyses were conducted, including frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, and correlations. Results show that the majority of farmers (56.8%) were in the confirmation stage when it came to the eradication of GAS. Overall, farmers strongly agreed that they had a relative advantage over the eradication methods and the eradication methods were compatible and not complex. Farmers neither agreed nor disagreed that the eradication methods of GAS were observable and trialable. There were significant relationships between farmers' farming status and trialability, and between farmers’ level of education and relative advantage and trialability.