The ‘Good Farmer’ concept and the diffusion of innovations in rural Africa

Endogenous agricultural development is needed to improve food productivity and address the socioeconomic and environmental challenges facing Africa in the near future. Considering the failure of past top-down development policies, the integral development of Africa’s agricultural sector, requires tailoring technological and technical improvements to the local rural realities while respecting their cultural identities and social norms. This paper focuses on the “Good Farmer” concept in a framework of symbolic interactionism, social capital production and shared identity. The study analyzes how the “Good Farmer” concept is perceived in rural Africa through textual analysis of a 2019 survey conducted in Mozambique. The results are compared with the definition of the “Good Farmer” in Western Countries from a Structured Literature Review. The analysis reveals that there is a key difference in Western and rural African conceptions of what is considered being a “Good Farmer”. In rural Africa, there is strong emphasis on community aspects and knowledge transfer, which can be of great importance in influencing the diffusion of innovation processes for its rural development.