Abstract
This study investigated the innovativeness among vegetable farmers as it contributed to successful farming in Trinidad. Two hundred farmers from the main vegetable growing areas in Trinidad were surveyed. Personal, farm and farmer-related factors were assessed and used to examine relationship with innovativeness, operationalized in this study as the extent of sustainable technology use, the extent of adoption of modern marketing practices and the extent of use of modern information sources. Statistical techniques included descriptive and ANOVA. The main findings were that innovativeness is related to: farmers’ education level, number of training courses attended, the type of crops produced, the number of parcels of land farmed, the amount of hired labour, the business orientation of farmers, records keeping behavior (p<.01 level); whether the operator is a full time or part time operator (p<.01 level); and age, the ownership status of land, and type of training pursued (p<.05 level). The study concluded that to ensure greater success in farming, and subsequent improved rural development, improved education/training of farmers as well as redesigned policies for Extension need to be put in place.
