TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AMONG BUFFALO BREEDERS OF SOUTHERN LAZIO, ITALY

摘要

This paper analyzes technological innovation among buffalo breeders in the southern region of Lazio, Italy. The objective is to understand how new technologies are introduced and adopted by farmers under constant pressure to produce more, faster, and"better". In the first part, the paper addresses how neoclassical economics has conceptualized innovation, i.e. linear, irreversible, and external to the system of production. We problematize this simplistic vision of technological innovation through theinsights of institutional economics and economics of conventions taking into consideration the role played by local institutions and local habits, norms, practices and beliefs to structure the economic process. In the second part of the paper we discussthe result of a research conducted in the provinces of Latina and Frosi-none among a sample of buffalo breeders during the year 2003. The preliminary results of the research confirm the role played by informal networks, this turned out to be the main channel through which farmers acquire information about new technologies. In fact, the research shows that different paths and styles of development exist within the same territory, each with its own problematics, which in one case stimulate innovation and, in the other, limit it.