Beschreibung:
In this study, we analyze the effects of household location and weather variability on the adoption of borewell technology in the rural-urban interface of Bangalore, India. Understanding these effects can help design policies that ensure smallholders' livelihoods and the functioning of ecosystems in drought-prone areas. Our analysis is based on a primary data set collected in 2016 and 2017 covering 574 farm households. With a semiparametric hazard rate model we analyze determinants of the borewell adoption rate. We incorporate different rainfall variables and a two-dimensional geo-spline to capture the effects of household location. Results show that more rain can lead to successful seasons that generate the capital needed for investment in borewell technology. However, we observe ad hoc adoption decisions to prevent harvest loss when rainfalls are low or missing. We also find that proximity to markets accelerates adoption rates. Further, we find that off-farm employment to decreases adoption rates.