Chapter-11: Climate Smart Agriculture and Digital Innovations: Farm Level Transformation for Sustainable Agriculture

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) combines productivity improvement, resilience building, and reduction of greenhouse gases to respond to increasing challenges posed by climate variations. This research analyzes the impact of digitalization using IoT sensors, remote sensing, artificial intelligence advisory services, and mobile advisories for operational transformation and building resilience against climate change. With a cross-sectional survey involving 176 respondents from agricultural settings of rural and semi-urban areas, the study analyzes awareness, reasons behind usage, barriers, and attitudes towards digital innovations under the concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture. The analysis shows that despite high recognition among respondents regarding the importance of implementing adaptive measures, the implementation of digital tools is rather low at farm level. Key barriers include low digital literacy, lack of adequate infrastructure for connectivity, cost, and non-localized advisory contents. In addition, younger and better-educated respondents are much more ready to embrace innovations, suggesting that adoption is associated with high human capital endowment. Based on this analysis, it appears that full-scale application of digital technologies under CSA requires creating digital ecosystems. Such an approach is necessary for incorporating all key stakeholders and establishing appropriate infrastructure and institutional arrangements.