Visualising adoption processes through a stepwise framework: A case study of mechanisation on the Nepal Terai

Abstract

CONTEXT The desire for agricultural mechanisation is mainstreaming across the Global South, yet there are limited tools through which to monitor and estimate progress made in pursuit of this. Despite Nepal enacting an agricultural development agenda focused on mechanisation to address issues of productivity, labour scarcity, inclusive economic growth and sustainability, it remains one of the few places in South Asia that is yet to see substantial agricultural mechanisation rates. We use this scenario as a case study to propose and investigate adoption processes. OBJECTIVE This research aims to provide a baseline to understand progress made towards Agri-mechanisation on the Nepal Terai. Despite decades of promotional efforts, there are only limited comprehensive analyses of the status of agricultural mechanisation in Nepal that cover diverse machinery and go beyond binary adoption estimates, nor a framework to understand different types of (non-)adopters. METHODS The applied non-binary ‘Stepwise Process of Mechanisation’ framework provides a systematic process for investigation of the status of agricultural mechanisation on the Nepal Terai. This framework is applied to representative survey data from 14 districts across 1569 households from Nepal's Plains (Terai) region. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that decades of activity have not yet led to the substantial closure of exposure gaps, nor sufficient ownership of machines that enables accessible fee-for-hire service provision. Exposure gaps were substantial in all machines, meaning current demonstration programs may not be achieving their targeted outcomes. Across nearly all machinery, a primary reason for limited progression to sustained adoption was a lack of service providers, a manifestation of limited machinery ownership, meaning current broad subsidy programs aimed at procurement may not be achieving intended outcomes. However, substantial pools of potential adopters and concentration of supply-side constraints highlight that with targeted intervention, rapid rural mechanisation is possible in the near future on the Nepal Terai. SIGNIFICANCE This research provides a foundation on which to understand the progress made towards small holder agricultural mechanisation. For the first time in South Asia, a systematic analysis through a novel stepwise framework has clarified and updated the status of agricultural mechanisation on the Nepal Terai. This work also lays the foundation for future work to explore the drivers, implications and inclusiveness of agri-mechanisation, utilising the identified typologies, both in Nepal and more broadly where increased nuance in understanding the status of agricultural mechanisation is warranted.

Experiences With Conservation Agriculture in the Eastern Gangetic Plains: Farmer Benefits, Challenges, and Strategies That Frame the Next Steps for Wider Adoption

“…The overall study aimed to capture a variety of different farmer typologies along the process of adoption, based on the Stepwise Process of Mechanization framework (Brown et al, 2021b) and the Process of Agricultural Utilization Framework (Brown et al, 2017b). This was done to ensure that the experiences and the constraints of various stages within an adoption process were captured in order to inform about the broader implications in increasing and scaling efforts.…”

“…The Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGPs) are spread across three countries, namely, southern Nepal, north-eastern India, and northern Bangladesh. These areas are densely populated, with a high rural population, high levels of poverty, low agricultural productivity, small average land holdings, and limited mechanization (Kassam et al, 2018;Brown et al, 2021b;Gathala et al, 2021). This region is home to 450 million people who depend on agriculture to achieve household food security (Gathala et al, 2020).…”

“…Some studies have articulated that CASI is more suited to large farms (Giller et al, 2015), while arguing that the multi-year lag, before farmers started experiencing yield gains, adds to the lack of economic incentive for smallholder farmers to adopt CASI (Stevenson et al, 2014). Studies highlighting the efforts to promote CASI, specifically among smallholder farmers in South Asia, are ongoing and have witnessed progress over the last few decades, though, mostly concentrated in regions of the Western Indo-Gangetic plains (Bhan and Behera, 2014;Giller et al, 2015), while it remains more limited in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (Brown et al, 2021b).…”

Farm mechanisation in Nepal's Terai Region: Policy context, drivers and options

“…Provincial government is responsible for extension services under newly established agriculture knowledge centres (AKCs). However, this transition has impacted the effectiveness of extension systems that are either under development or at a nascent stage and reflects high information gaps and low levels of technology exposure in Nepal Terai (Brown, Paudel, & Krupnik, 2021). Lack of technical staff and poor coordination are already hindering day‐to‐day functioning of the local governments and their ability to implement planned activities which will further impact farmers' access to knowledge and technical expertise (Dahal et al, 2020).…”

“…There is also a negative perception regarding the current extension service delivery set‐up despite high expectations (Dahal et al, 2020). In the most comprehensive survey of mechanisation on Nepal's Terai Region to date, Brown, Paudel, and Krupnik (2021) found that overall mechanisation was limited in most sustainable agri‐mechanisation practices and substantial exposure gaps exist across nine investigated technologies, even if their presence in Nepal has been for several decades. This indicates that despite various efforts within government programme, their impacts have not been strongly experienced by smallholder farmers.…”