Perspective of Smallholder Farmers on Smart Farming Gadgets in Pakistan ^†

Abstract

In spite of its importance as a backbone for Pakistani economy, agriculture sector is technologically backward. The sustainability of agriculture depends upon promotion and adoption of new agricultural tools among farmers. As technology adoption is a complicated process because of production and technical factors. The increasing need and use of smart technology in the field of agriculture invites us to make an assessment of the behaviour of farming community about trusting on gadgets or protecting their own traditional knowledge. Participatory action research is appreciated method of promoting new gadgets among farmers as compare to linear model but factors like age, literacy level, shortage of money, family size could hinder the process of engagement of smallholder farmers. Simple random sampling will be used to choose farmers out of one forty-two farming families who are active users of agricultural tools in six districts of three provinces of Pakistan under a project related to enhancement of water management skills of farmers. A mix methodology including surveys and interviews will be used to collect data from the smallholder farmers involved in project activities. The data will be analysed in narrative and tabular form. This research will indicate the trends in adopting smart farming gadgets among smallholder farmers. It will catch the insights from farmers and methods to improve the existing system and ways to deal with challenges to get smart technology gadgets into the hands of farmers. It will provide suggestions for the practitioners of participatory action research.