Determinants of Adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural Technologies among Farm Households in Southern Karnataka, India

The Climate change and its effects on agriculture pose major concerns for achieving a food-secure economy, particularly in developing countries like India. Furthermore, the carbon footprints resulting from agricultural activities are also a significant concern for the future climate. This study made an attempt to analyse the factors influencing the adoption of climate smart agricultural technologies among farmers in Chikkaballapur and Tumakuru, districts of Southern Karnataka using primary data collected from 180 randomly selected farm-households comprising 45 adopters and 45 non-adopters of climate smart agricultural technologies from each district. The data was analysed by fitting probit model to assess the factors influencing the adoption of climate smart agricultural technologies. The empirical results revealed that education (0.51), land holdings (0.63), credit accessibility (3.83), membership in organization (2.47), access to weather information (4.10), attended training (2.00) and farm income (0.49) were positive and significant relationship with the adoption of climate smart agricultural technologies in Chikkaballapur district. Similarly, in Tumakuru district age (0.14), contact with extension agent (2.78), credit accessibility (2.01), membership in organization (2.75), access to weather related information (2.16), participation in training (2.93) and farm income (0.34) was positive and significantly influenced the adoption of climate smart agricultural technologies among farm households. Whereas, age (-0.14) and land holdings (-0.39) of the respondents were negatively influenced the adoption in Chikkaballapur and Tumakuru districts, respectively. The findings, suggests that more emphasis should be given to increase awareness on innovative technologies and most importantly the institutional factors place a crucial role in enhancing the adoption of climate smart agricultural technologies in the study area among the farming community.