Factors Influencing Adoption of New Irrigation Technologies on Farms in Morocco: Application of Logit Model
Abstract
The objective of this article is to identify the determinants of the adoption of new irrigation technologies in Moroccan agriculture. The research is carried out on a sample of 82 farmers from the Souss-Massa region (Morocco). The results from the estimation of a binary logit model show that the variables: Age, level of education, non-farm income, perceived utility, possession of a computer, farm size, access to credit, ease of use, influence the probability of adoption of new irrigation technologies among farmers. The theoretical and managerial implications of this research are discussed.
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Introduction
In Morocco, the digitization of agriculture has started to gain more interest in recent years from various public and private actors. The last edition of the International Exhibition of Agriculture in Morocco (SIAM 2020) which was scheduled for April 2020 devoted its theme to technological innovations in agriculture, with the slogan "The future of agriculture lies in technological innovations ". The COVID-19 health crisis has reinforced this need to move to a digital economy, especially when this pandemic has crippled many sectors, threatening food security. The agricultural sector is then one of the most affected sectors. Empirical studies suggest that new technologies have positive agronomic, economic and environmental effects [1]. Experts now agree that technological innovation is an asset to save time and precision for the good of the farmer, the operation and the environment.
Today, Moroccan agriculture sector seems by far a sector where technological innovations are omnipresent. Unfortunately, we haven’tthe figures on the use of new technologies in the agricultural sector, but according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2019, relating to information and communication technologies (ICT) at the global level, Morocco is ranked 100 out of 176 in the ICT Development Index, and 78 out of 139 in the NRI Index ranking (Networked Readiness Index), which gives us an idea of the level adoption of new technologies at the national level. At this level, precision agriculture (PA) appears to be a major asset for making agriculture an innovative and responsible sector. The literature indicates that PAtechnologies have one thing in common: optimizing agricultural production. PAtechnologies now allow farmers to apply the right dose of input at the right time, reduce the use of phytosanitary products, predict the outbreak of diseases in a plot, reduce energy consumption fossil fuel and accurately determine water requirements.
The Souss-Massa region, the Kingdom'smain agricultural area, and one of the main centers of economic growth thanks to projects initiated under the Green Morocco Plan. However, agricultural activities are threatened by their dependence on water resources. With intensive use of irrigation gradually and dangerously depleting groundwater resources, the region'sdam fill rate has fallen from 41.73 percent last year to 24 percent this year. The introduction of new precision farming technologies has become a necessity for a more rational use of natural resources.
The adoption of technologies by farmers is the starting point for agricultural development, of which farmers are the actors, and technologies are the tools of this development. Adoption in itself is a complex part of this subject. Previous studies show that the adoption of technology depends on many factors (socio-demographic, economic, institutional, ..), and the farmer is at the center of the decision to adopt and accept the technology. The reality is that Moroccan farmers are so attached to their habits and practices, and therefore they are used to the use of traditional techniques.
In this perspective, this work is positioned downstream of the decision to adopt new irrigation technologies (NT), it is intended to explain the adoption of NTfrom PA, by putting focus on three irrigation technologies, namely: Capacitive probes, weather stations, and mobile applications. Questions arise: On what can the adoption decision of the Moroccan farmer depend? Depending on the determinants of adoption, what may be the implications and challenges for the Moroccan agricultural sector? The interest of this research lies in the understanding of the factors which lead the farmer to the adoption of the NTwhich are essential at the same time for the decision makers, the diffusers of these technologies (companies), and for the researchers who study the determinants of growth. Interest in digitization, especially with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, has only increased in recent times. The public authorities therefore need to understand the mechanisms of adoption by the farmer in order to be able to put in place a strategy for the development of digital agriculture.
Conclusion
The objective of this article was to study the determinants of the adoption of NT. Based on the existing literature on the subject, a theoretical framework was developed. To test this theoretical framework, we relied on a sample of 82 farmers from the region of Souss-Massa (Morocco). The results from the estimation of a binary logit model show that the variables : Age, education level (≥ Bac+3), non-agricultural income, perceived utility, possession of a computer, farm size, credit access, ease of use, influence the probability of adopting NTamong the farmers. To our knowledge, there’s no empirical work on NTadoption in Morocco. The results of this study provide some answers to the adoption of NT by Moroccan farmers. They can be useful for public authorities and companies providing NT to set up strategies to promote the digitalization of the Moroccan agricultural sector.
The low education level among farmers requires efforts in terms of training, supervision and monitoring. Indeed, the technologies that fall within the scope of PArequire learning which would only be possible if the farmer is able to understand their operation (reading a user manual or a display screen, entering data, settings, etc.). As our results show, the education level can make it easier or harder to use a technology. As the literature states, a technology could be adopted even if the farmer perceives the difficulty of using it. Studies show that farmers' perception of the ease of use of PAtechnologies has a significant impact on its adoption. A farmer who perceives PAtechnology as complex or difficult to use would therefore be less likely to adopt it. In the short term, it isn’tpossible to increase the education level of farmers so that they can fully understand their benefits, however, the public authorities can, therefore, acton building skills and knowledge-do this through training workshops and the provision of extension services that could equip farmers with the skills needed for NTacceptance and adoption.
Risk aversion can be overcome by improving the perceived usefulness of new technologies by farmers. This is important because farmers tend to ignore the benefits of using precision technologies [31]. Governments can then encourage farmers to use NT by demonstrating their usefulness. This can be done in collaboration with private companies, suppliers of these technologies, through the organization of demonstration workshops.
However, based on our knowledge of the field, certain variables whose effects turned out to be insignificant. These results should be interpreted with caution. For example, we didn’testablish a significant link between land tenure and the likelihood of adoption. In Morocco, agricultural development faces problems of various kinds, but land in rural areas is often taken to be the main cause. Indeed, the land structures, the land status and the mode of access to land are taken to be the major constraint and the most important blocking factor to private agricultural investment, areal engine of agricultural development. The collective lands in their current forms, are considered on the basis of assumptions, as major obstacles to agricultural development, because they don’tprovide the conditions of security and stability necessary for agricultural intensification and development. private investment. Nationally, 70% of farms have less than 5 ha, and only accumulate 24% of the utilised agricultural area (UAA). This specificity of the size of farms can pose a serious problem for the implementation of an agricultural innovation strategy.
This study isn’twithout its limitations. As with all cross-sectional analyzes, it’sdifficult to test causalities even if they remain theoretically justified. Indeed, the expression "cross section" is used when the dependent and independent variables are measured on the same date. In this case, the results obtained do not always allow the identification of causal relationships. Also, the data collection was done remotely during the health crisis (COVID-19), which didn’tallow us to collect more information.
In order to broaden our understanding of the NTadoption process among farmers, it would be interesting to integrate other variables into the predictive model, such as the orientation of production (local market vs export), the type of culture. Interactive effects are also necessary to better understand adoption. For example, studying the joint effects of educational level with ease of use, and farm size with type of crop on adoption. Finally, digitization has now become an imperative in all sectors of the economy, including agriculture. COVID-19 will certainly accelerate this drive for modernization, but its success begins with an understanding of the mechanisms that lead the farmer to accept and adopt new technologies.