Adoption Pattern and Welfare Impact of Agricultural Technology

Abstract

This article examines the adoption of new-generation modern rice varieties (MRVs) and their impact on family welfare among rural farm households in central Nepal. Using cross-sectional data from 416 farm households and the Heckman’s sample selection model, this article finds a positive and significant impact of MRVs on farm income; distance to market and off-farm work exert a negative effect on farm income. The likelihood of adoption is mainly explained by age and education of the household head, access to extension services, seed access and acceptability of the rice grain to consumers. The results further reveal that farm size and land type have significant and positive influences on the adoption of MRVs. Designing mechanisms to help promote MRVs’ adoption among poorer households by developing new varieties suited for rain-fed areas may be a reasonable policy instrument to increase farm incomes. The results of this study suggest that because of the difficulties and costs of transportation and travel to distant markets, availability of seed in local retail outlets will benefit the farmers. To reduce transaction costs, farmers need to be linked to markets by a wide seed distribution network. Integrating farmers with potential buyers may increase profitability in agriculture and its subsequent impacts on rural farmers’ food security and general livelihood.

Investigating Key Factors Influencing Farming Decisions Based on Soil Testing and Fertilizer Recommendation Facilities (STFRF)—A Case Study on Rural Bangladesh

“…The value of VIF is 1.17 (less than 10), showing that there is no serious collinearity. This finding is consistent with the literature that possibly younger farmers are considered more welcoming and fearless when it comes to experimenting with new things [116][117][118]. However, this result also leads to the importance of further study on factors affecting old farmers' lower adoption rate in these regions.…”

Pre- and Post-Harvest Practices of Urban Leafy Green Vegetable Farmers in Accra, Ghana and Their Association with Microbial Quality of Vegetables Produced

“…Education increases the likelihood of farmers to adopt new practices because farmers can better understand the requirements and implications of these practices [31,32]. The perception of farmers has been reported to influence their farming practices [32]. This supports our observation that farmers who disagreed that the use of polluted irrigation water can make consumers sick were more likely to produce vegetables with high microbial counts because they do not perceive the danger.…”

“…A significant relationship existed between farmers with no education and poor microbial quality (fecal coliform and Enterococcus counts) of their vegetables. Education increases the likelihood of farmers to adopt new practices because farmers can better understand the requirements and implications of these practices [31,32]. The perception of farmers has been reported to influence their farming practices [32].…”

Role of Social Learning in the Diffusion of Environmentally-Friendly Agricultural Technology in China

“…As previously reported [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], independent variables (X i ) include personal and family characteristics, production and organizational characteristics, technology and information channels, and production services. Specific variables and their distribution are listed in Table A1.…”