Estimating impact of technological adoption in farming in Bihar: a propensity score matching approach

Abstract

PurposeIn the developing world, the adoption of new technology in agriculture has emerged as a tool to address the problem of investment-disincentive effect of capital investment on smallholders. In Indian agriculture, which is dominated by smallholders, technological adoption becomes very essential. In this regard, along with the government, local level organizations also provide training and other support to adopt the new agricultural technique. The present study is an attempt to assess the counterfactual impact of this sort of initiative in the context of Bihar, a state in India.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses field survey data which are collected from the Gaya district of Bihar. Overall, 249 sample farmers are surveyed from 23 villages of four blocks of the Gaya district. There are two groups of selected farmers: treatment and control groups. Farmers who adopted the new technique belong to the treatment group, and otherwise, the control group. For analytical purpose, a propensity score matching method has been used to estimate the counterfactual impact of the adoption of the new technique of farming on farmers' agricultural income.FindingsThe study observes a significant improvement in the agricultural income of the farmers who adopted the new technique. New agricultural techniques, propagated through the local level organization, might be instrumental to enhance farmer's skill as well as income.Research limitations/implicationsThis type of approach may be adopted, complementary to the government's extension initiative to enhance farmers' income through adoption of the advanced farming process, as well as to improve the human capital of agriculture production.Originality/valueThe study laid a framework of assessing the counterfactual impact of intervention of local level organization and adoption of new farming techniques in the context of Bihar, India.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2022-0606