Economics and Adoption Behaviour of Farmers in Soil Conservation Technologies in Hilly Zone of South India

Abstract

The paper has examined the nature of conservation technologies adopted by the farmers and has identified the factors affecting the investment on these technologies by selecting 50 farmers from each priority category of five watersheds (very high, high, medium, low and very low). The technical feasibility and economic viability of different conservation technologies have been studied using NPV, BCR and IRR. The conservation structures were constructed at two levels, viz. farm and community. Farm level adoption of conservation structures like staggered trench has accounted for 72 per cent. Carrot, potato and beans and perennial crops like tea have shown positive additional net returns for adopters compared with nonadopters of conservation technologies. In tea plantation, stone wall had the highest NPV, and in carrot, bench terrace had the highest IRR. The BCR, NPV and IRR for both annual and perennial crops have been found encouraging. Multinomial logit model has been used for identification of factors influencing the choice for soil conservation technologies by the farmers. The study has found that bench terrace was being adopted for annual crops and the variables, number of land parcels, educational level and on-farm income, significantly influence the adoption rate.