Duration analysis of adoption of drip irrigation technology in southeastern Spain

In this paper, the process of adopting drip irrigation technology is investigated in one of the more water-scarce irrigation communities in Spain during the period 1975–2005. Why some farmers are faster to adopt this technology is investigated using duration analysis, which allows the timing of an event to be explored in a dynamic framework. The relative influence of a range of farmer, farm, economic, technology and institutional determinants is explored using discrete time models. The empirical results highlight the importance of educational factors, technological trialability, credit availability and institutional factors such as water availability and price, information networks and policy factors, as well as systematic effects that influence the adoption decision over the lifetime of the producer and over the survey period.

Research highlights
► We model the adoption of drip irrigation by farmers in Spain.
► We use duration analysis, to incorporate time varying effects.
► Increasing the price of water is found to increase adoption.