ABSTRACT It has become accepted that social networks influence farmers’ decisions and agricultural development programs routinely support influential farmers in an effort to disseminate recommended practices through their social networks. We have interviewed (1) 120 heads of farming households in one village in North-western Cambodia about their networks and practices; and (2) representatives of organizations managing agricultural development programs in the region. We have constructed an information-sharing network of the village and computed network centrality measures of each farmer in the village indicating their access to information from peers, opinion leadership, brokerage, and the redundancy among their contacts. We have analysed the relation of farmers’ networks and their practices. While the number of links farmers’ had in the community was mainly unrelated with their adoption decisions, the structure of these links mattered. Farmers who were perceived as influential were not necessarily inclined towards recommended practices. In contrast, farmers who had fewer contacts but were in brokerage positions on main channels of information flows between different groups displayed more progressive practices. The results suggest some limitations of excessive reliance on perceived influential farmers in agricultural programs and highlight the role that network brokers play in adoption of innovative farming practices.

中文翻译：

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忘记意见领袖：社交网络经纪人在柬埔寨西北部采用创新农业实践中的作用

摘要 人们普遍认为，社交网络会影响农民的决定，农业发展计划通常会支持有影响力的农民，努力通过他们的社交网络传播推荐的做法。我们采访了 (1) 柬埔寨西北部一个村庄的 120 位农户户主，了解他们的网络和做法；(2) 管理该地区农业发展计划的组织的代表。我们已经构建了一个村庄的信息共享网络，并计算了村庄中每个农民的网络中心性度量，表明他们从同龄人那里获得信息、意见领袖、中介以及他们联系人之间的冗余。我们分析了农民网络及其实践的关系。虽然农民在社区中拥有的联系数量主要与他们的收养决定无关，但这些联系的结构很重要。被认为有影响力的农民不一定倾向于推荐的做法。相比之下，接触较少但在不同群体之间信息流动的主要渠道上担任经纪人职位的农民表现出更进步的做法。结果表明，在农业项目中过度依赖感知到的有影响力的农民存在一些局限性，并突出了网络经纪人在采用创新农业实践方面的作用。接触较少但在不同群体之间信息流动的主要渠道上担任经纪人职位的农民表现出更进步的做法。结果表明，在农业项目中过度依赖感知到的有影响力的农民存在一些局限性，并突出了网络经纪人在采用创新农业实践方面的作用。接触较少但在不同群体之间信息流动的主要渠道上担任经纪人职位的农民表现出更进步的做法。结果表明，在农业项目中过度依赖感知到的有影响力的农民存在一些局限性，并突出了网络经纪人在采用创新农业实践方面的作用。