The Impact of Finance and Funding on Technology Adoption in Africa

Although Sudan is a predominately agricultural economy, crop productivity is extremely low and does not exceed 30% of the level attained in research farms. Even though most farmers acknowledge the great benefits of technologies provided by research and academic institutions, they argue that most of these technologies are very expensive to adopt, and there is no source of funds to adopt them even if they were not expensive in the first place. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to address the impact of finance and funding on the adoption of agricultural technologies in the Sudan. This paper attempts to demonstrate how limitations of finance and funding could explain the failure of Sudanese farmers to adopt the available technology and raise productivity. Finally, a number of findings emerge regarding the government policies and strategic planning that will effectively help and support small farmers. These findings may help policy makers take appropriate and immediate measures to improve agricultural productivity in the Sudan.