Do translocal networks matter for agricultural innovation? A case study on advice sharing in small‑scale farming communities in Northeast Thailand
- Author(s)
- Till Rockenbauch, Patrick Sakdapolrak, Harald Sterly
- Abstract
Recent research on agricultural innovation has outlined social networks’ role in diffusing agricultural knowledge; however, so far, it has broadly neglected the socio-spatial dimensions of innovation processes. Against this backdrop, we apply a spatially explicit translocal network perspective in order to investigate the role of migration-related translocal networks for adaptive change in a small-scale farming community in Northeast Thailand. By means of formal social network analysis we map the socio-spatial patterns of advice sharing regarding changes in sugarcane and rice farming over a period of five years. We find that, in translocally connected and mobile rural communities, a substantial share of advice originates from translocal levels. Translocal advice is dominantly provided through weak and formal ties with extension agencies and shared by few highly central larger-scale farmers within sparse local networks. This draws the picture of top-down translocal innovation flows driven by extension agencies and brokered through elite farmers. A closer look on institutional context and key actors of particular changes, however, suggests the potential of migration-related translocal networks and migration experience in fostering bottom-up innovations. Migration-related innovations transfers can promote adaptive capacity also among less favorably connected actors, especially if changes are geared towards limited household resources and are compatible with social practices of small-scale farming. We conclude that a translocal network perspective is instructive for research and extension interested in leveraging more inclusive agricultural innovation.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Geography and Regional Research
- External organisation(s)
- Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
- Journal
- Agriculture and Human Values
- Volume
- 36
- Pages
- 685-702
- No. of pages
- 18
- ISSN
- 0889-048X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-09935-0
- Publication date
- 04-2019
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 507002 Population geography
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agronomy and Crop Science
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/3fc8878b-c19a-4289-ac4e-23a8ee242689