Impact of Technology Change on Productivity Difference between Tissue Culture and Non-Tissue Culture Pointed Gourd in Gujarat

Abstract

This paper attempted an economic analysis of tissue-culture-pointed and non-tissue-culture-pointed gourd apart from studying the constraints the tissue-culture growing farmers faced. The coefficient of determination (R ) was 0.629 and 0.56 for the estimated 2 functions of tissue-culture, and non-tissue-culture technology, respectively. It revealed that the contribution of technological change (tissue-culture technology) to the total per hectare output was 26.41 per cent. The contribution of the neutral technological (shift in values of scale parameters) component in the productivity difference was positive (56.39 per cent). In contrast, the nonneutral technological (change in values of parameters) component contributed negatively (-29.98 per cent) to the total difference in the output. Age had a negative and significant impact, while family size had a positive and significant effect on adopting tissueculture technology. The analysis revealed that the tissue-culture technology in pointed gourd cultivation could significantly enhance the farmers' income.