Innovation mapping in agriculture: Relating with technology dissemination and adoption lags in crop sector in India

Agricultural Innovation System encompasses both the facets of technology development and technology dissemination. However, much concentration and efforts were exerted on innovation and technology development part while the other part i.e. innovation dissemination system was less attended. This article analyses spatial innovation dispersion and also level of innovation development across the crop sector. For this, five crude indicators viz. Mechanisation indicator, Vulnerability indicator, Concentration indicator, Stability indicator and Adoption indicator were constructed which determined the direction of innovation. The study observed that paddy was the most innovation prone crop among the crop sector. Further, deeper insight revealed state wise adoption pattern of improved technology and innovations by estimating inefficiency through stochastic frontier approach. For the states viz. Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka adoption laggardness were observed although the state effect was found conducive for paddy cultivation. It was also noticed that, role of price and wealth based variables were insignificant in determining adoption pattern in short run, while institutional factors and farmers’ linkage was proved to be decisive. The study provides the basic understanding and framework to direct further investigation in the field of innovation and diffusion.