Diffusion of irrigation technologies: the role of mimicking behaviour and public incentives

Abstract

We develop a conceptual framework designed to assess the impact of public incentives on the diffusion process of modern, water-saving irrigation technologies. Diffusion patterns of the integral sprinkler cover system in the sugarcane sector of Reunion Island (France) are estimated using a sample of 110 farmers aggregated over the period 1990 to 2006. We show that imitation is the main explanatory factor of the adoption dynamics. We also show that the characteristic diffusion path is not perfectly symmetric and is significantly affected by equipment subsidies.

Notes

¹Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards.

²See also Beers et al. (2007) to study the environmental impact of subsidies.

³In our study, this source may include extension services and communication efforts from local institutions to promote new irrigation technologies.

⁴Drip irrigation is located in only one-third of the irrigated area as this technology has been promoted in dryer and windy areas in the late 1980s. The diffusion of this technology, after a slow start, is experiencing a progressive abandonment beginning in the late 1990s. This process is not studied here. See Richefort (2008) for more details.

⁵Solving Equation 2(2) gives the number of adopters as a function of time: with the constant of integration.

⁶The Cochrane–Orcutt estimation procedure is used to estimate the parameters. See Greene (2000), pp. 546–548.

⁷Note that .

⁸We also investigated the cases where and are functions of water price or output price. As expected in our context (almost constant prices), we obtained poor results that are not reported here. See Richefort (2008) for more details.

⁹See Greene (2000), p. 421.