What Works for Water Conservation? Evidence from a Field Experiment in India

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.