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© 2020 by the authors. What influences farmers' decisions to adopt agricultural technologies is an important question for international agricultural research projects. There are often interpersonal differences between women and men that influence the adoption of decisions and behaviours, but few studies in the literature focus on these factors. We describe a game-based approach to explore decision-making processes underpinning the adoption of new farming technologies and practices in Lao People's Democratic Republic. Sowing a different rice variety is the tailored technology. The game explored adoption behaviours influencing decisions on transitioning from growing glutinous rice, a traditional variety preferred for consumption, to "white" rice for commercial export to international markets. We conducted separate game-workshops with 36 women and 36 men in 4 villages of southern Laos that were transitioning from subsistence to commercial smallholder production. The gaming exposed various possible behaviours and decisions that women and men considered. Access to resources, both assets and information, was equal for all players, yet women were found to adopt new rice varieties more readily than men and to engage in cooperative behaviours in the game situation. The study highlighted the need for further gender-sensitive research into cooperation among women in the agricultural context-an understanding beneficial for countries and regions undergoing agricultural transition., Sustainability, 12 (16), ISSN:2071-1050

Traditional lifestyles of lowland rice farmers of the southern provinces of Lao People’s Democratic Republic are rapidly changing, due to two important trends. Firstly, there is a push towards modernization and commercialization of farming. Secondly, though farmers still focus on rice farming as a key activity, there is an increasing move towards diversification of livelihoods. The changes have seen the uptake of non-rice crops, livestock husbandry and forest and river utilization; as well as non-farming activities. This has influenced gender relations, impacting household agricultural production decisions and amplified transitional trends. To explore the processes, we analyzed data from a study of innovation adoption amongst rice farmers in southern Lao PDR. The study revealed nuances of gender-based differences in the priorities and attitudes towards farming and off-farm activities, as well as differences in behaviour related to the adoption of new practices. Women were more focused on non-farming practices and considered engaging in the modern, non-traditional, economy more so than men. Women also reported experiencing greater challenges when engaging and trading in the agricultural marketplace. The study supports the importance of taking a gendered approach to understanding the inherent complexities within agrarian change.

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Transdisciplinary research focussing on improving smallholder farmers' uptake of technological innovations enables the integration of knowledge systems and the co-design and delivery of creative solutions. In this paper, we illustrate how scientific research can be mobilized within professionally facilitated change management workshops to engage a broad range of stakeholders and co-create knowledge in a rural development context. Multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary and multi-national stakeholders have contributed to finding innovative solutions to challenges experienced by smallholder farmers. By combining different worldviews we were able to assess research priorities, define problems and determine research options based on new hybrid knowledge systems. The outcome of this transdisciplinary process was the co-creation of a Research Discussion Tool and identification of 9 thematic areas which, in combination, enabled obstacles to technology uptake to be overcome and for smallholder farmers to benefit from research-based innovations. The process involved assisting Lao national researchers and extension agents to co-develop solutions, strategies and methods to improve technology uptake by farmers in the lowlands of southern Lao PDR using a series of change management interventions. A complex ecology of factors involving farmers' decision drivers/motivations and farmers' decision enablers within farmers' production systems influence technology uptake. The relative importance of each factor is dependent on the specific technology that is being introduced. Hence, projects that introduce new technologies struggle to address all relevant factors and often do not have the ability to deal with the complex array of factors that are at play. The process of co-construction embeds local knowledge that becomes accessible to projects. The approach we document in this paper also has the potential to harness collaborative exchanges with other projects in similar geographical regions.