Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Determinants of Adoption of Improved Onion Variety in Bangladesh

ASIF REZA ANIK,
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur, Bangladesh.

MD. ABDUS SALAM
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

In Bangladesh, onion production is much lower than its demand resulting in high import bill. Widespread farm level adoption of improved onion varieties may help here through increasing productivity. In Bangladesh, onion production is much lower than its demand resulting in high import bill. Widespread farm level adoption of modern onion varieties may help here through increasing productivity. This paper attempts to identify determinants of adoption and level of adoption with the objective of suggesting policy options for increasing cultivation of different improved onion varieties. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to obtain data from 300 Bangladeshi onion growers. Results show that cultivation of improved variety gives higher returns to the farmers than the traditional varieties, though the former is more capital intensive than the latter. Four different Cragg’s double hurdle models were developed to identify factors affecting adoption and adoption intensity. Quality of extension service and access to credit are the two most important factors that contribute to adoption. Farmers practicing crop diversification are more likely to adopt, but when they adopt they devote relatively a lower share of their available land to improved onion varieties since they are characterized to cultivate different crops. With increasing off-farm income farmers tend to adopt less. Level of adoption is likely to be higher among the experienced and educated farmers. Number of fragmented land reduces adoption probabilities.

Keywords: Modern onion variety, Adoption, Bangladesh, Cragg’s model.

Location: Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Knowledge Management

Non-commodity: Adoption of technology

Objectives:

Objective of this study was to determine the factors that influence the improved onion variety adoption and level of adoption.

Methodology:

Data and survey: Primary data were collected through a farm level survey. A Multi-stage sampling technique was employed for this purpose. In the first stage, three major onion producing districts, namely Pabna, Faridpur and Rajshahi, of Bangladesh were purposively selected. Then, from each district the top onion producing upazila1 and from each upazila two top onion producing villages were purposively selected. The study purposively focused on extensively onion growing areas since onion is not grown all over the country. Moreover, programmes for popularizing modern onion varieties are more likely to be successful in these areas. In the final stage, 50 onion growers were selected randomly from each village using a list of onion growers available from the local agricultural extension office. Thus, a total of 300 farmers belonging to six different villages in three different districts of the country were selected and interviewed for the study. Though rice is the major crop for these sample farmers, they also grow crops like jute, potato, wheat, corn, vegetables and fruits. Some preliminary exploration of the data showed that around 30% of the sample farmers cultivate spices (e.g. garlic, chili, turmeric, etc.) other than onion. Onion is cultivated in around 27% of the sample farmers’ total cultivable land. The farmers of the study area cultivate both improved and traditional varieties. Empirical analysis: Determining factors effecting adoption and level of adoption Adoption of any new variety or technology not only depends on its profit or production potentials, but also on different farm specific socio-economic and community level factors. The purpose of the empirical analysis employed here is to identify such determinants of improved onion variety adoption and level of adoption. Among the surveyed onion growers, some cultivate improved varieties (hereinafter called adopters) while others cultivate traditional varieties (hereinafter called nonadopters). Also, there are differences in level of adoption among the adopters. Some of the adopters use all their available land for modern varieties, whereas others use some portion of their land. Hence, there was two questions to answer:(i) why are some of the onion growers adopting modern variety and some not?; and (ii) why does the level of adoption vary among the adopters? Here use a Cragg’s double hurdle model to answer these two questions. Use of Cragg’s model for analyzing adoption and level or intensity of adoption is common in agricultural economics (Cooper and Keim, 1996; Teklewold et al., 2006; Shiferaw et al., 2008; Gebregziabher and Holden, 2011, Mal et al., 2012). The first stage of Cragg’s model is a probit model to analyze determinants of adoption, and the second stage is a truncated regression model for determinants of adoption level (Cragg, 1971). If di is the latent variable describing a farmer’s decision to adoption (1 for adopters, 0 otherwise), yi is the latent variable describing its decision on the level of adoption (e.g.ratio of land under modern onion variety and total farm land), and di and yi are their observed counterparts; based on the specification by Cragg (1971) and Moffatt (2005), the two hurdles for a farmer

Source of Information: Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development - JAEID - 2015, 109 (1)

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The study was aimed to identify the factors that affected adoption of improved onion varieties and its level of adoption with a view to suggesting policies for boosting onion production in Bangladesh through enhancing farm level adoption of improved onion varieties. In doing so, it compared production and profitability between improved and traditional varieties grown by the farmers in the study areas. Cultivation of improved variety results in higher production though it requires more capital. Ultimately, compared to non-adopters, adopters earn significantly higher level of return. Extension services play a crucial role in adoption of improved variety. Effective extension services significantly influence both adoption and level of adoption. The extension programmes for improved onion variety adoption are more likely to be successful among the experienced and educated farmers. Those farmers who rely more on farming for their livelihood (e.g. the farmers earning less from off-farm activities) are more likely to be adopters. Since farming plays greater role in these farmers’ livelihood than that of farmers with higher off-farm income, these farmers are more likely to be motivated by the higher profit potentials associated with modern varieties. Access to credit helps farmers to adopt. It also positively contributes to level of adoption. The central bank of Bangladesh may suggest some guidelines for the commercial banks to prioritize improved onion variety growers while disbursing credit. Farmers’ adoption probability and level of adoption increase with farm size. Farmers with more land are more likely to adopt and allot a relatively higher share of their land for improved varieties. In the context of Bangladesh, where farm size is generally small and agriculture is still not fully commercialized, a cash crop like onion generally comes in farmers’ priority list after food crops. Thus, adoption becomes more difficult in the farms with relatively small land size. Furthermore, the positive association between farm size and cash capital may impede adoption by the small farmers. Farmers’ adoption probability reduces with increasing number of fragmented land. This happens as cultivation becomes expensive in fragmented land and effective land size reduces due to boundary or hedging.

Knowledge Management: Journal