摘要
The purpose of this study was to indentify the most important determinants associated with behavior change by comparing the influence of intervening variables and the characteristics of the farmer and the farm （independent variables） on the adoption behavior of farmers for recommended agronomic practices. A total of 107 farmers out of a population of 214 were randomly selected from two adjoining districts of South Africa and Lesotho. Chi-square and correlations and regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between the independent, dependent and intervening variables. The results show clear differences between the independent in regard to their influence on adoption behavior, but these influences also vary significantly between the practices. In general the influence of independent variable is limited, and together their total contribution in explaining the variance in adoption （R2） varied between about 20 to 40 percent whilst that of the intervening variables varied between 50 and over 70 percent, which clearly supports the research hypothesis that their prediction arid explanation value in terms of behavior is much bigger than that of independent, personal and environmental factors.
