The combination of extension approaches strengthens farmers’ innovativeness in sustainable land management

The combination of extension approaches is encouraged, but information on their impact on farmers’ innovativeness is still not fully documented. This study aimed to analyze the impact of combining extension approaches on smallholder farmers’ innovativeness in Sustainable Land Management practices adoption in Benin. Thus, we collected data through two focus group discussions with 20 farmers, and semi-structured interviews with 10 extension agents and 111 farmers. A seven-point Likert scale with 18 items was used to measure farmers’ innovativeness composed of three dimensions (propensity to innovate, capacity to innovate, and innovation practice) drawn from current literature. The results show that a combination of extension approaches based on technical capacity building, awareness raising, knowledge sharing, farmer-to-farmer, and the provision of inputs strengthen farmers’ innovation propensity, capacity, and practice. When farmers’ innovativeness increases, they adopt the least resource-demanding innovations and adapt the resource-demanding ones. Therefore, combining extension approaches that strengthen farmers’ innovativeness is a better way to increase innovation adoption. It improves farmers’ capacity to overcome farming difficulties on their own. A key implication of this finding is that interventions that aim to enhance the adoption and appropriation of agricultural innovations should integrate the three components of innovativeness into their framework.