Information Spillovers in Irrigation Technology Diffusion: Social Learning, Extension Visits and Spatial Effects

In this paper we investigate the role of information spillovers in promoting irrigation technology adoption and diffusion. In particular, we investigate the effect of different channels of information spillovers, namely social learning and formal extension visits, while acknowledging that this effect is a function of farm-specific spatial, qualitative and socio-economic characteristics. For doing so we develop a theoretical model of irrigation technology adoption and diffusion which is applied empirically using duration analysis and a micro-dataset of olive producing farms in Crete. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that brings together, both theoretically and empirically, three strands of the adoption and diffusion literature: (i) the literature on extension visits, (ii) the literature on social learning and, (iii) the literature on spatial aspects of adoption and diffusion.