Rainfed small farmers not keen on modern technology

J Pal (Abul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) and Centre for Effective Global Action (CEGA) have found that small farmers are less likely to use modern technology  in rainfed regions of Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The findings are based on Randomised Control Trials (RCT), which is a distinction from field technology trials that is carried out in ideal setup. Instead, RCT is based on real time adoption of technology by small farmers. This methodology of impact evaluation helps in identification of cause and effect of choices made by the famers in real time. Two or more groups which are statistically identical are categorised through random selection of households. One group is recipient of the intervention while the other acts as a control group.

Water and market play a key role in adoption of technology in case of rainfed farmers. Some of the key constraints in technology adoption includes access and likelihood of small holders to mitigate risk including choice of crops. The small holders largely depend on informal credit systems and the current format of formal credit or insurance is not suitable for them. The access to credit and insurance based products is also hindered by the way information is packaged. The current forms are not suitable or less lucrative to the small holders of rainfed areas. Peer based access to use technology is also nearly non existent. The information on technology must be also novel and actionable to yield profits to attract small holders.

Also technology adoption depends on convertibility of information to market sale, and this could be a deciding factor. The study indicates that small producers are not keen towards using technology meant for improving productivity or quality under current market conditions. Farmers' relationship with the market affect the entire structure of value chain.

The study is crucial at this point of time as it identifies the gaps in context of farmer input and market output especially in farm market reform environment. Much needs to be captured from perspective of role of cost of infrastructure, intermediaries and the market players, contract farming and reaction of value chain actors for small farmers to adopt modern farm technology.