Land Use Policy https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.10.015 (2017)

Adoption of agricultural innovative solutions depends on many factors ranging from the economic appeal of the new practice to farmer experience or social influence. However, evidence suggests that some innovations, for example environmentally friendly practices, are abandoned at some point and little is known about why disadoption happens.

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Alwin D’Souza and Ashok Mishra from Arizona State University, US, use data from a survey of 936 farmers across Bangladesh, India and Nepal to analyse the issues that influence adoption and abandonment of conservation agriculture technologies, such as, for example, residue retention to enhance water and biodiversity management. They find that the adoption and carrying on of such good practices are more likely to succeed when farmers are educated, have professional ties and observe their neighbours’ practice. D’Souza and Mishra suggest that these circumstances make farmers more likely to trust information provided about environmentally friendly innovations to stimulate their adoption.