What works for water conservation? Evidence from a field experiment in India
在印度哈里亚纳邦的随机实地实验中，培训中型农户采用交替湿润干燥技术，在高峰抽水周将抽水时间减少22%，且不影响产量。
In a randomized field experiment, we test whether training medium scale farmers in an agricultural water reduction practice reduces water use from common aquifers in Haryana, India. We find that training farmers in a water reduction technique, Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), reduced pumping hours by 22% during peak pumping weeks without affecting their yields. In addition, we also incorporate the use of social comparison messages. We argue that farmers will adopt AWD despite flat fee tariffs if farmers own their pumps and if their crops can reach their varietal potential. This is because there are diminishing returns to irrigation and irrigation costs rise as water levels drop.