Socioeconomics of integrated crop and resource management technologies in the rice-wheat systems of South Asia, site contrasts,adoption,and impacts using village survey findings
2009
Singh, R. | Erenstein, O | Gatdala, M.K. | Alam, M.M. | Regmi, A.P. | Singh, U.P. | Mujeeb ur Rehman, H. | Tripathi, B.R.
This paper assesses the socioeconomics of integrated crop and resource management technologies along a gradient of rice-wheat systems in northern South Asia. Ten clusters of on-farm rice-wheat research and development (R and D) sites are grouped into three regions, the Northwest Indo-Gangetic Plains (1GP), the Central Zone, and the Eastern Gangetic Plains. These three regions are contrasted in terms of selected site, livelihood, and system characteristics and in terms of the adoption and impacts of resource-conserving technologies (RCTs). This study shows that regional variation is significant in rice-wheat systems across northern South Asia, with striking gradients in terms of resources, management practices, and RCT adoption. The R and D activities have had a positive impact on RCT use rates across the project communities. The village surveys also confirmed that RCTs generally save costs without yield loss, thereby enhancing farmers income. The village surveys do, however, highlight that the better endowed farmers tend to be the first adopters of RCTs. Purposive efforts are therefore needed to ensure that access to and uptake of RCTs are more inclusive. The marked regional variation also emphasizes the need for local adaptation_giving further impetus to the need for on-farm R and D initiatives to help adapt promising technological innovations to the local and diverse circumstances faced by resource-poor farmers.
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