Quantifying the Social Learning Behaviour of Livestock Rearers vis a vis Technology Adoption

Technology adoption behaviour of the farmers is one of the vastly researched topics over the years, butstill continues to evoke research interestin the unexplored dimensions. A growing body of literatureon the agricultural technology adoptionreinforce social learning or knowledge spill over as the major determinant of the adoption of new technology. Though many studies on modelling the farmers ’learning behaviour in the context of technology adoption were reported there was no conceptual framework or a methodological tool to quantify the social learning construct. In this paper an attempt has been made to develop and validate social learning index in the context of technology adoption behaviour of dairy producers. Data on 31 variables, measuring multiple aspects of social learning were utilized to extract their underlying constructs. Eight factors were discovered which collectively explained 72.84 per cent of the total variation. Factor scores were utilized to derive standardized indices. The developed index may be useful to the policy makers to quantify the learning behaviour of farmers in their local context and to evolve appropriate policy interventions.