Culturally Informed Knowledge Transfer Toward Climate-Smart Agriculture Adoption: Insights from Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

Sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as having the potential to experience a swift and impactful increase in the adoption of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices. However, it is important to recognize that cultural factors among social groups modulate and influence knowledge dissemination processes and adoption patterns. This study seeks to provide insight to these perspectives by examining the relationship between knowledge transfer and culture among sub-Saharan African smallholder farmers’ adoption of CSA. We implemented the case study methodology to analyze 12 cases from Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. The results indicated that high power distance in both regions affects the efficacy of top-down approaches, indicating a necessary shift towards more participatory methods that involve diverse smallholder farmers in the diffusion of CSA practices. In addition, when the regional culture is predominantly collectivist, it facilitates the diffusion of knowledge among smallholder groups, but it also limits the diffusion of innovation when the initial adoption experience is negative. The findings highlighted the significant role of cultural dimensions in the knowledge transfer process related to adopting CSA practices. Future research and practice should be designed with culture in mind, including direct measurement of culture within adoption contexts to accelerate the adoption rate of CSA.