VARIETAL CHANGE IN POST-GREEN REVOLUTION AGRICULTURE - EMPIRICAL-EVIDENCE FOR WHEAT IN PAKISTAN

Yield gains may continue to be the most important factor affecting varietal change in post-Green Revolution agriculture, but they are often not as spectacular as in the initial shift to high-yielding varieties. A survey of nearly four hundred farmers was conducted to determine factors leading to slow varietal change in Pakistan, where disease vulnerability has been a particular problem. Farm-to-farm information transfer, and to a lesser degree literacy, were important in explaining varietal awareness. Farmers' opinions of general and specific yield characteristics were important in explaining varietal adoption. In contrast, formal extension appeared to have little effect on either awareness or adoption, and farmers' disease knowledge was also limited. Strengthening formal educational and extension systems may be crucial to continued agricultural productivity growth in post-Green Revolution agriculture.