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Abstract
Limited access to timely and adequate information has been identified as a major hindrance
to smallholder agriculture in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. This has negatively affected
the socio-economic welfare of smallholder farmers, resulting in high numbers of foodinsecure
households. This paper explores the potential value of social interactions between
smallholder farmers in improving integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) information
and knowledge access and sharing, in the context of field-based learning alliances. With a
particular focus on understanding the structural layout of the smallholder social network, the
study quantified the connectedness of smallholder farmers along an innovation learning
cycle. The study revealed that smallholder farmers within learning alliances had a denser
network structure of social interactions. The magnitude of communication efficiency was
generally higher for learning alliance participants than non-participants. Field-based
learning alliances facilitated improved social interactions, subsequently shortening the
innovation dissemination horizon and hence increasing the likelihood of ISFM adoption.