Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Age of head of the household or decision-making farmer infl uences the adoption
of drip irrigation positively. The age, which refl ects the experience in farming, has
signifi cant bearing on adoption of various agricultural crop production technologies.
Experience improves awareness about the positive externalities generated by drip ir-
rigation and motivates farmers to initiate action. Apparently, experience matters for
adoption of drip technology. Our results confi rm that the experience in farming signifi -
cantly infl uences the drip adoption.
The size of the farm refl ects the wealth status of the farmers, which is expected to
infl uence drip irrigation positively as drip involves huge initial investment. We found
that size of the farm exerts a signifi cant and positive infl uence on adoption of drip irri-
gation. The reason for this may have to do with the fact that the wealthier people have
adequate capital, which enables them to adopt any technology, particularly the drip
technology. However, few small and marginal farmers also show inclination towards
adoption of drip irrigation. But for want of initial investment they do not opt for drip
irrigation.
Cropping pattern in any region has signifi cant bearing on the adoption of drip
technology. It is known that drip technology is more suitable when the cropping pat-
tern is dominated by wider spaced crops such as banana, coconut, grapes and so on.
Though we recommend the drip technology for the annual crops like vegetables, tur-
meric, sugarcane, maize, etc., drip method of irrigation is quickly adopted in regions
where cropping pattern is dominated by horticultural crops like banana, grapes, etc. It
is clear from the analysis that the proportion of wider spaced crop is found to signifi -
cantly infl uence the drip adoption. In our study area, the farmers prefer to grow less
labor-intensive crops like coconut and banana. This change in cropping pattern again
motivates the farm households to adopt drip technology.
One can expect that participation in nonfarm income activities enable the house-
holds to generate addition income to manage both their households and make adequate
investments on farm development. It is evident that the variable NONFARM is found
to be signifi cantly and positively infl uence the drip adoption.
The proportion of area under wider space crops has the highest impact on both
the adoption and intensity of adoption followed by AGE, FSIZE and NONFARM.
The total elasticity for the variable WIDERCROP is estimated to be 5.3486, which is
divided into 2.6910 for adoption, and 2.6576 for intensity of adoption. This suggests
that a 10% increase in area under wider spaced crop is expected to result in about 53%
increase in adoption of drip technology and extent of drip irrigation. Thus alternative-
cropping pattern would facilitate promoting drip irrigation in larger scale.
1.5 CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY SUGGESTIONS
This research has revealed that adoption of drip irrigation technology has increased
the net sown area, net irrigated area and thereby has helped in achieving higher crop-
ping intensity and irrigation intensity. It has been found that there is a significant shift
towards crops such as coconut and banana from annual crops like vegetables, paddy,
sugarcane and the like. The main reasons have been found as scarcity of human labor
and water. As the cropping pattern decides the adoption and suitability of drip irriga-
 
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