Assessing the Adoption Dynamics of Zero-tillage (ZT) Wheat and the Growth Dynamics of Related Custom Hire Services in Bihar. Survey 2: ZT Service Provision as a Business Opportunity

While there existed some empirical evidence of the incidence of zero-tillage (ZT) adoption in wheat – rice farming systems in Punjab, in 2013 no such assessment existed for Bihar, one of the major focal points of CSISA activities in the second phase. In Bihar, a relatively extensive network of ZT service providers exists, and the technology is probably relatively widely known, making a study which is based on a random sample of ZT service providers, ZT adopters, and non-adopters of the technology feasible. This kind of ground-truthing of the potential of ZT service provision as a business model and the adoption and impacts of the technology at the farm household level is urgently needed in view of a credible quantitative assessment of the impact of CSISA with respect to one of its major supported technologies. The results can help to more effectively target the promotion of ZT and the provision of ZT services and related training activities. The study consists of two interlinked panel household surveys, one focusing on ZT adoption and its welfare impacts at the farm household level (Survey 1) and the other focusing on ZT service provision as a business opportunity (Survey 2). For both surveys, data were collected in two rounds, the initial survey being conducted in 2013 with a follow-up survey in 2016. The objectives of this study are: (1) to assess service providers’ resource endowment and risk preferences; (2) based on (1), and pooling data with Survey 1, identify influencing factors of engaging in ZT service provision, including influencing factors of the scale of service provision.