Adoption of agronomic practices and their impact oncrop yield and income: an analysis for black gram andgreen gram in India

Abstract

Black gram and green gram are important pulse cropsin India, but their production has faced fluctuationsand stagnancy in yields over the last few decades. TheGovernment of India has implemented several measuresto enhance crop yield, including recommending and promoting the adoption of crop-specific agronomic practices. However, there is limited empirical evidence on thedeterminants of the adoption of these practices and theirimpact on yield and income. In this context, this studyanalyses the determinants of the adoption of climate andplant management practices among black gram and greengram farmers and their impact on yield, crop revenueand net income across four major crop-producing Indianstates using a multinomial endogenous treatment effectsmodel. Our analysis shows that information, contact withgovernment extension services and access to off-farm activities are crucial in adopting climate and plant management practices. The results strengthen the view that theadoption of knowledge-intensive practices happens viaformal information sources and plot-level demonstrations. In addition, the results indicate that farmers whoexperience frequent crop loss exhibit an aversion towardsadopting climate and plant management practices. Whileadopting these practices had a positive impact on cropyield and crop revenue, the impact on net income was observed only in the case of climate management.