Impact of Agricultural Technologies on System Productivity: A Case Study of the Farmer FIRST Programme in Bundelkhand Region, Uttar Pradesh

The present study assessed the effect of improved agricultural technologies disseminated under the ambitious Farmer FIRST Programme (FFP) on the system productivity of major crops in the Bundelkhand region of central India.The study used cross-sectional data from 381 farmers (167 beneficiaries and 214 non-beneficiaries) and employed Bisaliah's decomposition model to assess the impact.The findings suggest that adopting improved agricultural technologies accentuated the system productivity of adopters by around 20 per cent.The project interventions in the study region slightly increased input use level by the adopters (2.8 per cent).Still, the adoption of technologies also accentuated the input use efficiency of farmers by 24 per cent, leading to overall productivity gains.The evidence of the positive impact of adopting improved agricultural technologies in the Bundelkhand region of central India suggests that promoting similar approaches in other regions with comparable climatic and agricultural challenges can improve farm productivity and, thus, the income and livelihood of farmers.