G. TATLONGHARI ET AL.
significant influence on social networks, at least for Indonesian
males. The older males of this country tend to have a larger
social network. The size of the area cultivated has a significant
influence on social networks in the pooled regression and it was
observed that women who belong to large farming households
tend to have a larger social network. Country-wise regression
analyses reveal that, in Indonesia, only area cultivated shows a
significant effect on social networks. In all models, the number
of relatives has a significant influence on social networks. Since
relatives represent the initial endowment of social capital, this
sort of result is expected. Although membership in organiza-
tions reduces the size of social networks in Laos, it has a posi-
tive effect for Indonesian males, who increase their social net-
works by joining organizations. Given that the variable “mem-
bership in organizations” does not capture the level of partici-
pation of individuals in an organization, the negative effect
observed in Lao PDR could be because individuals are mem-
bers of these organizations with no active involvement and this
does not allow them to increase their social networks. Social
skills contribute to increasing significantly the social networks
of males in Lao PDR but have a reverse effect for females. In
Lao PDR, males participate more than females in market places,
festivals, drinking clubs, and village activities. For Laos in
general, as well as the male and female samples, contact with
an extension service contributes to increasing significantly the
intensity of social networks. In general, households in Indone-
sia tend to have a larger social network that their Lao counter-
parts. This is also true when sample of males and females are
considered.
Conclusions and Implications for Technology
Dissemination
This study investigated the structure of information exchange
among men and women farmers who were involved in PVS on
submergence-tolerant varieties in Lao PDR and Indonesia.
More specifically, this study assessed whether there is a differ-
ence in information exchange among men and women farmers
when it comes to acquiring information about seed technology.
Results indicate that the spread of seeds and knowledge on
submergence-tolerant rice varieties can be enhanced by tapping
existing social networks of men and women farmers. Regres-
sion analysis revealed that the hypothesized variables globally
influence the size of social networks. The gender variable is
significant in the pooled regression, indicating that men tend to
have a larger social network on average than women. The gen-
der variable was not found to be significant in Lao PDR, but in
Indonesia it was highly significant and the magnitude of the
coefficient was about twice that of the pooled regression.
Moreover, it is observed that older males in Indonesia tend to
have larger social networks. The same effect is noticed with
area cultivated in Indonesia. Having more relatives increases
social networks for both males and females. Overall, gender
plays an important role in determining the factors that affect
social networks. This paper provides evidence that the factors
affecting social networks are not the same for males and fe-
males.
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