The ox fall down: Path-breaking and technology treadmills in Indian cotton agriculture

Journal or Publishing Institution: The Journal of Peasant Studies

Study: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03066150.2017.1291505?tokenDomain=eprints&tokenAccess=AX9XPXxsqA2UzESxQ4Tw&forwardService=showFullText&doi=10.1080%2F03066150.2017.1291505&doi=10.1080%2F03066150.2017.1291505&journalCode=fjps20

Author(s): Stone, G.D. and Flachs, A.

Article Type: Journal Publication

Record ID: 2222

Abstract: Although India’s cotton sector has been penetrated by various input- and capital-intensive methods, penetration by herbicide has been largely stymied. In Telangana State, the main obstacle has been the practice of ‘double-lining’, in which cotton plants are spaced widely to allow weeding by ox-plow. Path dependency theory primarily explains the persistence of sub-optimal practices, but double-lining is an example of an advantageous path for cash-poor farmers. However, it is being actively undermined by parties intent on expanding herbicide markets and opening a niche for next-generation genetically modified cotton. We use the case to explicate the role of treadmills in technology ‘lock-in’. We also examine how an adaptive locked-in path may be broken by external interests, drawing on recent analyses of ‘didactic’ learning by farmers.

Keywords: agricultural industrialization, path dependency, knowledge production, biotechnology

Citation: Stone, G.D. and Flachs, A., 2017. The ox fall down: path-breaking and technology treadmills in Indian cotton agriculture. The Journal of Peasant Studies, pp.1-24.