Factors Influencing Adoption of Technical Advice from Agricultural Extension Services: Evidence from a Field Survey in Western Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

This article examines the key drivers of farmers’ adoption of technical advice and their preferred providers of agricultural extension services. Based on a primary survey conducted in western Uttar Pradesh, India, the data from 272 sample households were analysed using a binary logistic regression model. The findings suggest that farmers’ decisions to adopt technical advice are influenced positively by farm size, household size, average hours spent on farms, training and awareness of the extension scheme. The positive relationship between farm size and technical advice adoption demonstrates the need for extension services to reconsider their strategies for reaching out to more marginal and small farmers, who account for over 85 per cent of agricultural households, by incorporating their priorities into their outreach programmes. Non-government extension sources are found to be important for access but not for the adoption of technical advice. However, in both commercial and public extension services, a lack of faith in extension services is the fundamental cause of the relatively low adoption rate. The low preference of information and communications technology-based extension services underlines that physical forms of extension services are far more important in developing countries like India. JEL Code: Q16