Factors Influencing Adoption of Rangeland Rehabilitation Technologies by Agro-pastoralists in the Arabian Peninsula: Evidence from Analysis in Saudi Arabia and Qatar

Abstract

Rangelands are the primary land use in the Arabian Peninsula and cover about 50% of the total area. They are under continuous heavy grazing pressure due to underlying social and economic causes and institutional effects. ICARDA, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), has developed and introduced different rehabilitation techniques, including resting, planting native range species, and water harvesting in other countries of the AP such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Yemen. However, the adoption of these techniques by end users was not evaluated. In this context, research has been conducted in Saudi Arabia and Qatar to determine the factors affecting the speed of adoption and identify the main constraints affecting the adoption level and the dissemination for these rehabilitation techniques with a particular focus on perceived perceptions of the research and extension (R&E) systems on the impact of the characteristics of these technologies on their adoption level. The Adoption and Diffusion Outcome Prediction Tool (ADOPT) and the Likert-scale approach were implemented to meet these objectives. The qualitative data were gathered through two focus group discussions, respectively. The empirical findings revealed a significant difference between KSA and Qatar on the predicted peak adoption of this technological package (planting native range species and water harvesting). Although the predicted years to peak such adoption are around 18 years, adoption is expected to be 92% for KSA and 11% for Qatar. This is mainly because this technological package is newly getting adopted in Qatar. This predicted peak remains very low even during the first five and ten years for the case of Qatar. The main factors constraining the adoption of these rehabilitation technologies and therefore its dissemination are the complexity of the innovation, its trialability, the need to develop substantial new skills and knowledge to use the innovation, and the up-front cost of the investment relative to the potential annual benefit from adopting this technological package.