Adoption of agricultural innovations: The case of drip irrigation of cotton in Israel

The study is aimed at estimating and explaining the parameters of the adoption process of drip irrigation in cotton by collective farms (kibbutzim) in Israel. Israel consists of more than 50% desert-type areas, with less than 200 millimeters of annual rainfall. In addition, water sources outside the desert areas are scarce, and uncertainty prevails about their annual yield. Thus, efficient usage of water is a ‘must’ for the development and expansion of agriculture. The main purposes of the development of new irrigation technologies are to save water or to increase the productivity of water (output per unit water). Like any new technology, irrigation technologies must endure a phase of dissemination. Knowledge of the expected rate of adoption is needed by all parties involved: the innovator, the manufacturer of irrigation equipment, and policymakers who manage the scarce resource-water. In this study, a conceptual framework is developed for the decision to adopt drip technology for the irrigation of cotton in Israel, and econometric analyses of the time series of the diffusion process are presented using Griliches’ model. The adoption of new agricultural production technologies leads to changes in the distribution of work over the year, the growing season and even the day. Knowledge, accuracy and technical responsibilities become more significant to the success of the growing activity (e.g., yield). These aspects have not been studied by others, and this paper only touches upon them. Consequently, these aspects merit future study.