Trends in Adoption of New Technology by Indian Farmers – Study

A study published by Glenn Stone, professor of anthropology and of environmental studies at Washington University in St. Louis, sheds light on the impact of new technologies on farmers and local culture. The study focuses on cotton production in the Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh, India, one of the nation's key cotton-growing areas. Stone found several factors affecting farmers' ability to adjust to new developments by practical methods. Among them are the speed of change, the overwhelming number of choices in the seed market and the desire for novelty.

 "Very few farmers were doing experimental testing, they were just using it because their neighbors were," Stone says. "There has been a breakdown in the process of farmers evaluating new seed technologies." Stone's research reveals that the increase market share of Bt cotton resulted not from traditional farming methods of testing seed for efficacy, but from a pattern of "social learning" — farmers relying on word of mouth to choose seeds.

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