Adoption of New Wheat Crop Varieties in India: Status, Determinants, and Impacts

Improved technologies and agricultural innovation are the key drivers of growth in the agricultural sector. Despite such acclaimed progress, sustaining the productivity of wheat—which remains the staple food of large sections of the Indian population—depends on the continuous release and efficacious diffusion of improved varieties that are resistant to different biotic and abiotic stresses. It is useful to understand the process of wheat-variety adoption and how this differs by target population. Our dataset comprises 9,468 farmers across 100 districts in 7 major wheat-growing Indian states. The seven states are Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. We selected districts randomly, based on five dominant crops in each state. For all five major crops, we obtained detailed information on farmers’ characteristics, variety details, and seed information. Our analysis is based on plot- and variety-level observation instead of farm-level observation. We used propensity score matching and endogenous switching regression methods to take care of selection bias and endogeneity issues. This paper aimed to identify the driving forces behind a household’s decision to adopt newer varieties of wheat, and to examine the implications of this decision on wheat yield. The analysis of the determinants of adoption of new varieties reveals that the significant factors influencing a farmer’s decision to adopt new wheat varieties are land size, education, source of information, source of seeds, outlets of output sale, and variety attributes. We find that adoption of new varieties has a positive and significant impact on yield and that the result is robust to various model specifications; however, we also find evidence of inter- and intra-regional variations in adoption patterns. This study is useful to research organizations in their development of appropriate research programs and projects to promote adoption of newer varieties. The study points to the critical need for the formulation of strategic policies that can cater to the states and regions of India that have lagged in the adoption of new wheat varieties.