Factors affecting the adoption of resource conservation technology: Case of zero tillage in rice-wheat farming systems

Abstract

Rice-wheat farming systems (RWS) cover about 80 per cent of the food requirement and about 60 per cent of the nutritional requirement of the Indian population (Timsina and Cornor, 2001). Out of the total rice and wheat production in India, 42 per cent comes from Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). The productivity data indicate an increasing trend for the period of 1958-98, but a decreasing or stagnating trend afterwards (Ladha et al., 2003). The increase in rice-wheat production during 1958-98 can be attributed to many factors, mainly the intensification of land use, investments in irrigation facilities and adoption of modern seed-fertiliser technologies. Some of the crucial policies adopted by the Indian government, such as input price subsidies, output price support, subsidised power supply, and low interest farm credit etc., have also contributed in bringing about this big lead in rice-wheat production. However, the stagnation in productivity can be attributed to intensive agricultural farming practices, which leads to environmental problems and in turn make the whole system unsustainable (Fujisaka et al., 1994; Hobbs and Morris, 1996; Kumar et al., 1999; Ladha et al., 2003). The prevailing policy environment has further encouraged unsuitable practices (Pingali and Shah, 2001). Thus, while the intensive rice-wheat farming caters to food requirements of the growing population, it has also led to resource depletion and lower land productivity. Hence, there is a need for adoption of improved resource conservation technologies. These technologies seem to offer opportunities, which would increase production and income substantially (Sharma and Kumar, 2000). The zero tillage (ZT) technology is one such technology, which can increase food production to meet future demand while conserving the resources.