Modelling contingent technology adoption in farming irrigation communities

Of all the uses ofwater, agriculture is the one that requires the greatest proportion of resourcesworldwide. Consequently, it is a salient subject for environmental policy-making, and adoption of modern irrigation systems is a key means to improve water use efficiency. In this paper we present an ag...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Perello-Moragues, Antoni, Noriega, Pablo, Poch, Manel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/237522
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/237522
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Agent-based modelling
Innovation diffusion
Irrigation agriculture
Policy-making
Socio-hydrology
Descripción
Sumario:Of all the uses ofwater, agriculture is the one that requires the greatest proportion of resourcesworldwide. Consequently, it is a salient subject for environmental policy-making, and adoption of modern irrigation systems is a key means to improve water use efficiency. In this paper we present an agent-based model of the adoption process — known as “modernisation" — of a community constituted by farmer agents. The phenomenon is approached as a contingent innovation adoption: A first stage to reach a collective agreement followed by an individual adoption decision. The model is based on historical data from two Spanish irrigation communities during the period 1975–2010. Results suggest that individual profits and farm extension (as proxy of social influence) are suitable assumptions when modelling the modernisation of communities in regions where agriculture is strongly market-oriented andwater is scarce. These encouraging results point towards the interest of more sophisticated socio-cognitive modelling within a more realistic socio-hydrologic context.