Farmers’ risk attitude, agricultural technology adoption and impacts in Eastern India

Adoption of STRVs and mechanization has been found to have positive impact on rice productivity. These two agricultural technologies, as our results reveal, are adopted by two distinct categories of farmers depending on their risk attitude. However, both technologies could play a complementary role increasing and stabilizing rice production of farmers, and that is where scope for policy lies to bridge this gap. Targeted policy measures such as subsidizing the purchase of machineries for establishment of custom hiring centers, implementing effective extension mechanisms, and integrating STRVs in the seed systems to enhance physical and economic access to these technologies, could significantly increase their adoption and consequently improve productivity and income of farmers.