Dissemination and Adoption of Bundled Agronomic Practices

Abstract

The methods used to cultivate rice are evolving as researchers innovate and develop agronomic practices to increase yield and farmer income. In the previous two decades, members of the RICE CRP, including IRRI, CIAT, and AfricaRice created and disseminated regionally-designed and locally-appropriate portfolios of agronomic practices in collaboration with local partners. These agronomic practices include 3 Reductions, 3 Gains (3R3G) and 1 Must Do, 5 Reductions (1M5R) in Vietnam; 10 and 10+ Practices in Brazil; and Smart-Valley or Sawah in West Africa. This paper presents the current available evidence on the diffusion and adoption of these technologies. While much has been written about these technologies, we find that previously published levels of dissemination and adoption tend to be inflated. However, this does not mean that the adoption of these technologies is limited. We document reliable sources of data on adoption for each technology and, where appropriate, use these data to estimate adoption rates in the regions of interest.