TY - JOUR
T1 - Conservation Agriculture Benefits Indian Farmers, but Technology Targeting Needed for Greater Impacts
AU - Krishna, Vijesh V.
AU - Keil, Alwin
AU - Jain, Meha
AU - Zhou, Weiqi
AU - Jose, Monish
AU - Surendran-Padmaja, Subash
AU - Barba-Escoto, Luis
AU - Balwinder-Singh,
AU - Jat, M. L.
AU - Erenstein, Olaf
N1 - Funding Information:
The manuscript was designed and developed as part of the research project, “Impact of a Second-Generation Conservation Agriculture Technology (Happy Seeder) on Crop Residue Burning and Air Quality in Northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains”, which was funded by the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA). The datasets were collected as part of different research projects managed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), New Delhi. In Punjab, the data collection was co-funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat Agri-Food Systems (CRP WHEAT), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The data collection in Bihar was co-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (grant numbers OPP1052535 and OPP1133205) and USAID (grant number BFS-G-11-00002) through the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA).
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Krishna, Keil, Jain, Zhou, Jose, Surendran-Padmaja, Barba-Escoto, Balwinder-Singh, Jat and Erenstein.
PY - 2022/3/30
Y1 - 2022/3/30
N2 - Rice and wheat production in the intensive, irrigated farming systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is associated with significant negative environmental and health externalities. Conservation Agriculture (CA) has the potential to curb some of these externalities while enhancing farm income. However, farmer adoption of CA remains modest in the Indian IGP. The present study focuses on the constraints to adopting the major CA component, zero tillage (ZT). We examine whether ZT wheat is feasible for smallholders and the potential of technology targeting to realize faster and wider diffusion. Econometric models and machine learning algorithms were used to analyze remote sensing data and farm household data collected from the Indian states of Punjab and Bihar, two contrasting agrarian economies of the IGP. While farmer adoption was low among smallholders (owning <2 ha of land), the on-farm effects of ZT on variable cost reduction and yield and profit enhancement for smallholders are comparable to large farmers. We estimate the economic potential of technology targeting using an equilibrium displacement model. In the relatively developed state of Punjab, technology targeting based on landholding size does not appear to add substantive economic benefits. In Bihar, a less prosperous state with a dominance of smallholders in the population, technology targeting could markedly enhance economic surplus and reduce rural poverty.
AB - Rice and wheat production in the intensive, irrigated farming systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is associated with significant negative environmental and health externalities. Conservation Agriculture (CA) has the potential to curb some of these externalities while enhancing farm income. However, farmer adoption of CA remains modest in the Indian IGP. The present study focuses on the constraints to adopting the major CA component, zero tillage (ZT). We examine whether ZT wheat is feasible for smallholders and the potential of technology targeting to realize faster and wider diffusion. Econometric models and machine learning algorithms were used to analyze remote sensing data and farm household data collected from the Indian states of Punjab and Bihar, two contrasting agrarian economies of the IGP. While farmer adoption was low among smallholders (owning <2 ha of land), the on-farm effects of ZT on variable cost reduction and yield and profit enhancement for smallholders are comparable to large farmers. We estimate the economic potential of technology targeting using an equilibrium displacement model. In the relatively developed state of Punjab, technology targeting based on landholding size does not appear to add substantive economic benefits. In Bihar, a less prosperous state with a dominance of smallholders in the population, technology targeting could markedly enhance economic surplus and reduce rural poverty.
KW - decision-tree
KW - economic impact
KW - farm-household survey
KW - inclusion
KW - remote sensing
KW - smallholders
KW - zero tillage
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128408147&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fagro.2022.772732
DO - 10.3389/fagro.2022.772732
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85128408147
SN - 2673-3218
VL - 4
JO - Frontiers in Agronomy
JF - Frontiers in Agronomy
M1 - 772732
ER -