Does agricultural training and demonstration matter in technology adoption? The empirical evidence from small rice farmers in Tanzania

Farmers' participation in extension training and demonstration programs may unleash farmers' potential and enable them to adopt improved production techniques to bring about sustainable farm productivity improvement. This study applies Poisson model with the endogenous covariate in primary data from 469 farming households in the Mvomero district of Tanzania to determine the effect of the agricultural extension training and demonstration programs on the adoption intensity of rice production technologies practices (RPTPs). The study found that training and demonstration programs improved the adoption intensity of RPTPs by 64.4%, and governments and other stakeholders should invest more in them. Simultaneously, access to irrigation water improves RPTPs adoption intensity, implying that besides the extension programs, the provision of irrigation services is needed to promote rice production technologies and productivity improvement. Therefore, extension training and demonstration programs should incorporate farming training on RPTPs as a set of complementary innovations to guide the adoption of multiple technology practices.