Effect of risk on irrigation adoption by coconut farmers in Kerala

Many technologies and better management practices are found to be facing issue of low adoption rates and hence not able to give remarkable results. It is important to know the reasons behind low adoption. Present paper tried to study the effect of risk on adoption of irrigation by coconut farmers of Kerala. The study is based on primary data collected from 275 farmers selected from Calicut and Malappuram districts of Kerala. Risk measures of each farmer were assessed using sample moments and they were later incorporated into a probit model to assess the effect of risk on adoption. Results showed that risk factors do affect irrigation adoption decision by farmers. Probability to get higher profit and the variance of profit were found to have positive effect on irrigation adoption decision, whereas chances of downside risk and extreme events were found affecting irrigation adoption decision negatively.