International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

The generation of farmer innovations and re-inventions is not a new phenomenon in the farming community. Farmer innovations and re-inventions are a subject that is increasingly making people sit up and think. At the very least it underpins a refreshing new approach to indigenous environmental knowledge that goes further than just passive admiration. At the most, it is a potentially important new direction for research and extension wherever else the conventional approaches have failed to deliver.

The findings of the study revealed that profile characters of the majority of the farmer innovators were middle to young aged, educated from under graduation to high schooling, possessing larger land holdings, found to have medium farming experience, annual family income, research and extension contact, mass media consumption, achievement motivation, scientiscism vs fatalism and progressivism have high creativity, risk bearing ability, and high research orientation.

Farmers have been recognised as one of the key sources of innovation generation and there are calls for strengthening their innovation capacities. Based on profile characteristics of the farmer innovators this study analyses the innovation generation activities of farmers in the selected sample area. And the results suggest that a participatory extension approach by considering these profile characteristics of the farmer's innovation systems perspective, is a key determinant of innovation capacity in farmers. This is possible because participants are likely to be empowered and also gain problem-solving and analytical skills which are essential for generation of innovations and re-inventions.