Farmer Perceptions, Varietal Characteristics and Technology Adoption

Technology adoption is governed by farmer perceptions regarding advantages and disadvantages of new technology compared with the existing technology. Yet farmer perceptions are not adequately documented and analysed in adoption studies. In this paper, farmer perceptions regarding traditional and improved rice varieties in a rainfed village in Orissa are used as a basis for explaining the low adoption of improved varieties and the high degree of varietal diversity. The results indicate that quality characteristics loom very large in farmers' choice of rice varieties.