Demographic Impact of Agricultural Technology Use in Nepal

Prem B. Bhandari, University of Michigan

Using longitudinal panel data from western Chitwan Valley of Nepal, this study investigates the impact of labor-saving modern farm technologies use on fertility behavior - numbers of babies born. Including this setting, there is ample evidence that modern farm technologies substitute human labor and save labor. In rural agricultural settings where the demand for farm labor is believed to be the driver of persistent high fertility, the use of such labor-saving technologies ought to lower fertility. However, little attention has been given to potential role the modern technologies use may play on fertility decline. The data allowed unique opportunity to link a household’s labor-saving inputs use to subsequent demographic behaviors - numbers of births in those households. The results of our multivariate analysis show significantly lower births in households that used tractor, and pumpset and farm implements. Implications are advanced.