The Diffusion of Innovations and the Issue of Equity in Rural Development

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Abstract
Diffusion strategies, as currently practiced by most change agencies, often lead to increased inequity and therefore migh t be used as guides for devising revised strategies which avoid what currently practiced strategies predict. This view implies that those who seek more equitable development programs should not carry out further surveys of current diffusion practice, but rather experiment to develop and test new alternatives to such usual diffusion programs. One such field experiment in rural Kenya shows that diffusion programs can reach successfully the noninnovative "laggards." Not only did this project obtain 100% adoption among those reached directly, but it also had an immediate three-to-one diffusion effect for each farmer directly reached.