Mechanised dry direct seeding (DDS) is a crop establishment technique that reduces labour requirements, and offers flexibility in terms of earlier planting times. This technique has been tested for many years in southern Lao PDR, including more recently by several research and development projects concurrently in Savannakhet province, and there has been a trend of increasing adoption among farmers. In this province in the wet season of 2015, over 800 ha was planted using the DDS technique, in comparison to around 80 ha in the previous year. This rapid increase requires an understanding of the motivations, experiences and outcomes for farmers, in order to understand the innovation process, and to identify methods to support the uptake and outscaling of this technique.
