Adoption of Localized Irrigation Technology (LIT) by Farmers in Zagora Province: Roles of Perceptions in Technology Attributes

Abstract

To support efforts to adapt to climate change coupled with water scarcity and to promote sustainable agriculture with high added value, LIT is one of the most significant means to improve water productivity in agriculture.

In Morocco, despite efforts and financial incentives to accelerate the adoption of LIT, the areas currently equipped with this technology represent only a negligible part of the potential (El intidami and Benamar, 2020). Therefore, this study aimed to examine the role and influence of farmers' perceptions in the adoption of LIT.

Estimation of the parameters of the binary logit model using SPSS version 25 software, based on data collected from 120 farmers in the province of Zagora showed that the variables, "Perceived Ease of Use", "Perceived Relative Benefit", "Perceived Compatibility", "Perceived Purchase and Installation Cost" and "Perceived Risk" were significant and play a very important role in the adoption of LIT by farmers in the study province. While the other explanatory variables, "Perceived Testability" and "Perceived Observability", were found to have no significant influence on the adoption of the technology.