Research

Land management: Digging into conservation agriculture practices in South Asia

Professor of Agribusiness Ashok Mishra and his co-authors unearth the issues that influence farmers' adoption and abandonment of preservation technologies.

By Susie Steckner

2018-05-15

It’s a challenge facing farmers around the world: how best to maximize the land for high yields and conserve resources at the same time.

A recent study examines the issue through the lens of South Asia, where farmers have adopted but also abandoned conservation technologies.

Using farm-level data, the study’s authors ask the key question — why?  As important, they look at the role of spouses and social networks in farmers’ decisions to make conservation agriculture a priority. Or not.

The study results could have far-reaching impact.

“Though resource conservation technologies/practices are being adopted across the globe, the rate of adoption has been slow,” says study co-author Ashok Mishra, a professor of agribusiness and the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation Chair in Food Management at the W. P. Carey Morrison School of Agribusiness.

A major reason? A lack of knowledge, given the complexity of conservation, and partial conservation agriculture.

Mishra seeks to shed light on the subject with the study, "Adoption and Abandonment of Partial Conservation Technologies in Developing Economies: The Case of South Asia.”

The study was co-authored by Mishra and Alwin D’Souza, a graduate student at the Morrison School.

Boosting incomes and sustainable practices

Conservation agriculture (CA) promotes resource-saving production and includes the adoption of multiple technologies and practices in the form of a package. This includes technologies such as laser-land leveling and relay cropping and practices such as bed planting and nutrient management.

CA could increase marginal farmers’ incomes and sustainable agricultural systems but the package is costly, particularly for farms in developing countries. A more attractive alternative for those countries is a partial adoption of selected CA technologies (PCA).

In looking at partial conservation agriculture, the study’s authors set out to address two issues:

• What factors influence farmers’ decisions to adopt or abandon PCA?
• What role do spouses and social networks play in whether farmers adopt or abandon PCA?

Though the study focuses on South Asia, Mishra says the lessons learned there could benefit farmers in other areas.

For instance, farmers in the United States have been slow to adopt CA technologies. They don’t necessarily face barriers like those facing South Asia farmers — such as constraints in land size — but they do struggle with a lack of information. That’s especially true when it comes to partial adoption of selected CA technologies.

“In the U.S., 10 percent of the large farms produce 90 percent of the agricultural output,” he says. “Therefore, 90 percent of the small farms could easily be adopting and practicing CA.”

“Our research concludes that the social network of farmers may play a significant role in the transfer of information and knowledge regarding adoption of ‘partial’ CA technologies/practices,” he says.

The case of South Asia

Resource conservation is vitally important in South Asia and India, the study authors say.

Agriculture in South Asia is becoming a costly proposition, with several factors at play: falling yields, increasing energy prices, and higher fertilizer and input costs. This has an adverse impact on the income of farmers. As important, this poses a great threat to the food security of smallholder and marginal farmers, according to the study.

“As a result, there is a need to promote the adoption of an agricultural system that can conserve production resources without compromising the yield and incomes of agricultural households,” Mishra says.

The study authors note that while the literature on conservation agriculture is extensive, it falls shorts on several key insights, including:

• The practice of partial conservation agriculture is lacking, especially in developing economies where practices that promote high yields have been significant in the past five decades.
• The role of spouses and social networks in using PCA technologies and practices is lacking.
• The spatial nature of technology adoption, especially the decision to adopt and abandon PCA technologies/practices, is lacking.

Looking to the future

Authors Mishra and D’Souza made several important findings in their study.

Going social. Across the Indo-Gangetic plains, social networks have a positive and significant effect on the decision to adopt PCA and a negative effect on abandoning it.

Social networks may provide better quality and trustworthy information from peer-groups and co-members, so relationships play a major role in promoting PCA, the study found. For instance, farmers with memberships at the farmers’ union could be targeted to adopt PCA.

The study also found that farmers who saw their neighbors using PCA were more likely to adopt and less likely to abandon PCA. The authors suggested that more demonstration trials, such as educational farmer field schools, could be held in the villages.

Schooling, and the facilitation of access to credit are of “paramount importance” in farmers’ decision to adopt or abandon PCA, according to the study.

“Farmers interested in using new technology may not possess sufficient information about the technology,” Mishra says. “This problem exists in the developing economies because of the limited reach of agricultural extension services and low education attainment of farmers.”

“Social networks can be used as a conduit to extension services provided by government agencies and/or private seed and equipment companies,” he says.

Role of spouses. There is strong evidence that spouses hold significant sway over farmers when it comes to incorporating PCA technologies and practices.

“Our research reveals that spouses of smallholders are increasingly taking part in the decision making of agricultural activities, including crop choice, irrigation methods, and finances,” Mishra says. 

Policymakers should be cognizant of this transformation and promote access to land and credits, information delivery, and markets to farmers and spouses, the study found. Household heads with better education, better quality of information, and those facing labor constraints are more likely to adopt PCA.

“Policymakers can design and implement policies that encourage spouses’ participation in farming activities and perhaps remove social barriers that prevent spouses in major production agriculture decisions,” Mishra says.

Adopting and abandoning. Adopting specific PCA technologies and practices could be profitable for farmers because they may reduce costs, compared with adopting a full package of CA technologies. Policymakers can play a vital role by choosing and incentivizing the right sets of PCA that likely would be accepted and adopted by smallholders.

Policymakers could also use findings from this study to better understand the many factors that may lead farmers to abandon conservation agriculture technologies and practices. Those factors include financial constraints, lack of sufficient information, unsuitable environment, and the replacement of current technology with a more efficient technology.

Paradigm shifts in agriculture

More and more, agriculture is becoming a costly enterprise with falling yield and increasing energy and fertilizer costs. This will demand dramatic changes in production, according to “Adoption and Abandonment of Partial Conservation Technologies in Developing Economies: The Case of South Asia.”

Said the authors, “Attaining food security for a growing population in most South Asian countries, while sustaining agricultural systems under the current scenario of depleting natural resources, increasing costs of inputs, and climate variability, calls for a paradigm shift in agricultural production system and practices

Agribusiness