Diffusion of an agricultural innovation - hybrid maize in Njombe district

The problem of this study was the identification of the reasons of acceptance and rejection of the hybrid maize innovation in Njombe and also to test the universality of the diffusion’s model as applied to the area of study. The methodology applied included questionnaire interviews, informal discussions with the officials and peasants, the results being analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively with the Chi-square test and TAU (Kendall's correlation coefficient). A number of socio - economic is and political variables have been considered as to how they influence the innovativeness of farmers. The outcomes show that the diffusion’s model should not be adapted as a piece meal to different social environments and that economic reasons are the principal deterrents to early adoption i.e. innovativeness.