Download or read book The role of plant-breeding R&D in tractor adoptions among smallholders in Asia: Insights from Nepal Terai written by Takeshima, Hiroyuki and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2018-04-20 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining agricultural census data from Nepal from 2001 and 2011 with various spatial agroclimatic data, we show that increase in yield potentials due to the introduction of high-yield technologies (particularly improved seed varieties) plays an important role in smallholders’ tractor adoption in Nepal Terai. We use a novel instrumental variable, agroclimatic similarity between farmers’ and plant breeding institutes’ locations, to instrument the adoption of improved seed varieties. To our knowledge, our study offers the first direct evidence that mechanization growth among smallholders is partly induced by the introduction of high-yield technologies.