Psychological Constructs and their Associations with Adoption of
Submergence-Tolerant Rice in Eastern India
December 2012
T. Yamano, M. Malabayabas, and S. Rajendran
Abstract
We apply the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to identify farmers’ psychological constructs
toward agricultural technology (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control)
across farmers. We use data from “progressive” farmers who have received seeds of a stresstolerant rice variety, called Swarna Sub 1, from formal providers and “representative” farmers
who were randomly selected in the villages where the progressive farmers reside in Uttar
Pradesh and Odisha, two flood-prone states in Eastern India. We use information about
psychological constructs toward new agricultural technologies from 802 farmers: 174
progressive farmers and 628 representative farmers. In this paper, we find that about 23 percent
of the representative farmers have adopted Swarna Sub 1. Regarding the psychological
constructs, the progressive farmers have higher scores on psychological constructs toward new
technologies and Swarna Sub 1than representative farmers. Socio-economic factors such as
caste, gender, and asset holdings affect the psychological constructs toward adoption of new
agricultural technologies and Swarna Sub 1. We investigate associations between the
psychological constructs and the adoption of Swarna Sub 1 among representative farmers. We
discuss importance of not only attributes of a technology and farmers’ perceptions about them
but also farmers’ perceptions of what other farmers consider the technology.
Keywords: Psychological Constructs, Technology Adoption, Stress-tolerant Crop, Rice, India
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Psychological Constructs and their Associations with Adoption of
Submergence-Tolerant Rice in Eastern India
Outline of the paper
It is well recognize that psychological factors influence economic decisions (Ajzen, 1991;
Cramerer and Loewerstein, 2004). Some recent studies show the importance of psychological
factors in farm decision making (Beedell and Rehman, 2000; Hansson et al., 2011). However,
few studies have been conducted how socio-economic factor influence psychological constructs
among farmers in developing countries, although farmers in developing countries are considered
to be under strong peer pressures from their fellow villagers. To identify the determinants of the
psychological constructs toward technology adoption in developing countries, we focus on
adoption of a submergence-tolerant rice variety in Eastern India. About 80 percent of the rice
area of Eastern India is rainfed and exposed to floods. According to International Disaster
Database (EM-DAT), about 20 million people are affected by floods every year from 2001 to
2011 in the country. Because farmers in rainfed areas are mostly poor, crop losses caused by
abiotic stresses can cause a devastating impact on them and may deepen the poverty in the
region.
The recent advancement in conventional and molecular breeding techniques has enabled
breeders to breed varieties with desirable traits in a relatively short period. Swarna Sub 1, a
submergence-tolerant rice variety, is a product of molecular breeding techniques developed by
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its collaborators, as we explain later. Since
2008, Swarna Sub 1 has been distributed in Eastern India, and the dissemination efforts have
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been scaled up since 2010 when the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) adopted Swarna
Sub 1 in its programs in Eastern India.
In this paper, we use data from 803 farmers who live in submergence-prone areas in two
states, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, in Eastern India (Figure 1). Some NGOs and government
agencies have been distributing Swarna Sub 1 since 2008 in the states. We have sampled two
farmer groups: The first is a group of farmers who have received Swarna Sub 1 seeds directly
from four NGOs. We have obtained lists of Swarna Sub seed recipient farmers from four NGOs
and selected up to four recipient farmers in a sample village. In total, there are 174 farmers in
this group. The second group is a group of 628 randomly selected farmers who were randomly
selected from the villages where the farmers in the first group reside. In general, farmers in the
first group are considered as progressive farmers. By comparing the two groups, we expect to
find significant variation in psychological constructs toward agricultural technology across the
two groups. Then, we examine correlations between the psychological constructs and the
adoption of Swarna Sub 1 among representative farmers since some of them have already
adopted Swarna Sub 1. Rural areas in Eastern India provide opportunities to identify socioeconomic factors in psychological constructs because villages in the areas tend to be
heterogeneous due to caste, religion, and other social factors.
Regarding psychological constructs toward new technologies, we find that the
progressive farmers have high scores than the representative farmers (Table 2). In the table, we
present the results on the psychological constructs toward new technologies in Odisha (the
results from Uttar Pradesh will be added later). The questions are divided in three categories:
Attitude toward new technology, Perception of others, and Perceived Behavioral Control,
according to Theory of Planned Behavior. In the table, we find that the progressive farmers who
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received Swarna Sub 1 seeds have higher scores on all questions. They not only have a stronger
attitude toward new agricultural technologies but also think that other farmers consider them as
progressive farmers and ask their opinions about new agricultural technologies. They also have a
better access to new information and extension workers. The progressive farmers also have high
scores toward Swarna Sub 1 (Table 3).
In the rest of the paper, we examine the determinants of the psychological constructs
toward new technologies. Preliminary results suggest that socio-economic factors such as caste,
gender, and asset holdings affect the psychological constructs. We also investigate the
associations of the psychological constructs with Swarna Sub 1 adoption among representative
farmers. The results from this paper are expected to provide important policy implications
toward agricultural extension.
Outline of the paper:
1. Introduction
2. Psychological Constructs toward Technology Adoption
3. Sampling, Data, and Descriptive Analyses
4. Estimation Models and Variables
5. Results
6. Conclusion
References
Ajzen, I. (1991). “The Theory of Planned Behavior,” Organizational Behavior and Human
Decision Process, 50; 179-211.
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Beedell, J., and T. Rehman (2000). “Using Social-Psychology Models to Understand Farmers’
Conservation Behavior,’ Journal of Rural Studies, 16: 117-127.
Cramerer, C.F., and G. Loewenstein (2004). “Behavioral Economics: Past, Present, and Future,”
in C.F. Cramerer, G. Loewenstein, and M. Rabin (eds.), Advances in Behavioral
Economics, Princeton University Press, 3-51.
Hansson, H., R. Ferguson, and C. Olofsson (2012). “Psychological Constructs Underlying
Farmers’ Decisions to Diversify or Specialize Their Business – an Application of Theory
of Planned Behavior,” Journal of Agricultural Economics, 63 (2): 465-482
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Table 1. Sampled Villages and Households in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, 2012
By household Type
Number of
Sample
villages
Number of
Sample
Households
Original
Users (a)
Neighbors (b)
Swarna Sub1
users among
Neighbors
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
Number
Number
Number
Number
Number
(% of D)
Uttar Pradesh
Gorakphur
Maharajganj
Sidhartnagar
Sant Kabir Nagar
Mau
Basti
Sub Total
6
6
6
6
6
6
36
96
95
96
95
96
92
570
24
23
24
23
21
19
134
72
72
72
72
75
73
436
12.5
68.1
29.2
52.7
12.0
61.6
34.7
Odisha
Puri
Kurda
Sub Total
9
7
16
133
99
232
25
15
40
108
84
192
12.0
4.7
8.8
Total
52
802
174
628
22.8
Note: (a) Original Users are households who received Swarna Sub 1 seeds, as mini-kits, from four NGOs
who have been distributing Swarna Sub 1 in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. Up to four Original Users were
randomly selected in each village from the lists of Swarna Sub 1 recipients. The lists were provided by
the four NGOs. (b) Twelve households were randomly selected in each village where Original Users
resided. Most recent voter registrations were used to randomly select the twelve households in each
village. In this paper, the randomly selected 12 households were called Neighbors.
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Table 2. Psychological Constructs in Odisha
Original
Users
(A)
Attitude toward new technology
I consider myself as a progressive farmer
I like to try new agricultural technologies or practices
I actively seek new information from others
I like new ideas in general
Average
Perception of others
Other farmers think I am a progressive farmer
Other farmers ask my opinions about agricultural technologies
Other farmers will object how I produce rice on my fields
Average
Perceived Behavioral Control
It is easy for me to collect information about new technologies
I have good contacts with extension workers
I can adopt new agricultural technologies which are profitable
Average
Number of observations
Neighbors
(B)
4.2
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.3
3.4
3.7
3.9
3.9
3.7
3.8
4.0
3.7
3.8
3.0
3.2
3.3
3.2
3.4
3.1
4.2
3.6
2.9
2.4
3.8
3.0
40
192
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Table 3. Farmers’ Perception about Swarna Sub 1 in Odisha
Original
Users
(A)
About Swarna Sub 1
I think Swarna sub1 is a very good variety
Other farmers think Swarna sub1 as a good variety
It is easy to adopt Swarna sub1
Neighbors
(B)
Average
4.7
4.4
4.5
4.5
3.7
3.7
3.3
3.6
Average
4.5
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.8
2.9
2.9
2.9
3.1
Others
Swarna sub1 taste better.
Swarna sub1 seeds were available before planting
3.9
3.6
2.5
2.5
Number of observations
40
192
Stress-tolerance of Swarna Sub 1
Swarna sub1 is more submergence tolerant.
Swarna sub1 is more drought tolerant.
Swarna sub1 is more tolerant against diseases.
Swarna sub1 is more tolerant against insects.
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Figure 1. Sample Areas and Submergence Prone Areas in India
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