Adoption of pressurized irrigation in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) based systems in the Andes of Peru

There is limited literature that describes adoption and which factors influence innovations to improve water management for potato-based systems in the Andean Region. The study was based on an experience in Northern Peru about adoption of pressurized irrigation systems that took place between 2004 and 2013, and had the objectives of determining the factors that influence the adoption and which are its consequences en potato-related cropping systems. The methodology for the study involved applying questionnaires to156 families complemented with focus groups. For pressurized irrigation systems to be adopted, farmers required knowledge (software), infrastructure (hardware) and organization (orgware), and the factors that influenced the adoption included variables of human, social, financial and physical capital such as age, education, economic level, knowledge of the technology, access to training, participation in irrigation organizations and distance of the farm to the local market. The consequences of the adoption included a higher number of cropping seasons per year, including potato, and higher yield of crops, less labor demand for irrigation, time savings, diversification of crops and livestock (Peruvian guinea pigs and cattle), increased area of crops in the dry season. The technology increased the production options for subsistence-oriented potato farmers.