Study on factors influencing the adoption of drip irrigation by farmers in humid tropical Kerala, India

Adoption of drip irrigation in Kerala State of India is very low and potential exists toincrease its adoption in the State. A field survey was conducted in two districts to determine themajor factors influencing farmers’ adoption of drip irrigation and to draw conclusions that willhelp in developing policy and institutional interventions to encourage the adoption. The resultsindicated that adoption index of farmers is higher in Kozhikode, when compared with theThrissur district. However, with respect to different crops, adoption index is not statisticallysignificant. Socioeconomic characteristics such as age, education, experience, land holding size,etc. have a positive influence on drip irrigation adoption index by farmers. Farmers haverealized yield improvement in the range of about 13% to 47% through drip irrigation, whencompared to surface method of irrigation for arecanut, coconut and nutmeg. High productivityand income from cultivation of crops like coconut, arecanut and nutmeg have acted as anincentive to adopt the costly system of drip irrigation in the case of both Kozhikode andThrissur farmers. The number of drip irrigation components and type of emitters indicated asignificant and linear response for drip irrigation adoption. The reported constraints experiencedby farmers include rainfall, clogging of drippers, high initial cost, inadequate subsidy, difficultyin getting subsidy, etc. This information will help to prioritize the factors that affect adoptiondecisions and provide insights for improving the crop and water productivity.