Village surveys for technology uptake monitoring: Case of tillage dynamics in the trans-gangetic plains

Abstract

Agricultural research and development (R&D) would benefit from reliable yet cheap technology uptake indicators to guide decision making. The paper explores the use of village surveys to monitor technology use and illustrates this through two empirical case studies into tillage dynamics in the Trans-Gangetic Plains in northwest India. The first case study is a revisit of 50 communities surveyed earlier in Haryana State. The second case study is a new and wider representative sample of 120 villages across Haryana and Punjab States. The case studies illustrate that after an initial rapid spread of tractor-drawn zero tillage drills for wheat seeding in these intensive systems, the zero + reduced tillage area seems to have stabilized there at between a fifth and a quarter of the wheat area. Conventional tillage for wheat continues to decline, with an increased use of rotavators making up the difference ? but its intensive shallow tillage goes against the conservation agriculture tenets. The paper illustrates the potential of village surveys to provide timely and cost-effective feedback to agricultural R&D.