Farming Under Drought: An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Farmers’ Multiple Adoption of Water Conservation Practices to Mitigate Farm-Level Water Scarcity

Abstract

This paper investigates the factors that drive farmers’ simultaneous adoption of six water conservation practices (WCPs) and the intensity of their adoption. We estimate farmers’ adoption of these WCPs with a multivariate probit model, and for the intensity of their adoption, an ordered probit model is estimated. Our results show that gender, age, education, and farm size (among other factors) influence the probability and extent of adoption of WCPs. Furthermore, combinations like drip and/or sprinkler irrigations and cover cropping, drip and/or sprinkler irrigations and intercropping (among others) are complements, suggesting the bundling of these WCPs.