An assessment of the challenges in the adoption of Agric-Tech In Kwazulu-Natal North Coast and Midlands

Abstract

The use of agricultural technology (agric-tech) has been known to increase agricultural productivity but South Africa continues to face a  slow agric-tech adoption rate. To improve industry decisionmaking, it is critical to understand the challenges that affect farm managers'  decisions to adopt or reject agric-tech. Therefore, this study investigated the challenges that KwaZulu-Natal commercial farm managers  experience in the adoption of agric-tech. 26 farm managers in the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast and Midlands were sent an open-ended e- interview schedule as part of the study’s qualitative research technique. The NVivo software was used to organize and manage the data  gathered from these e-interviews. Using the literature review, the researcher used codes and themes to analyse the data. The findings of  this study identified that challenges that emerged from data analysis were the lack of agric-tech cognitive knowledge and the lack of  manually skilled farm workers with many years of experience in operating agric-tech, high cost of agric-tech and limited financial and  stakeholder support, scarcity of agric-tech maintenance services and spare parts as well as risk of displacing unskilled farm workers. The  study revealed why the agric-tech industry has been lagging but did not explore the potential solutions to the challenges faced by the  adopters of agric-tech. The stakeholders need to be aware of the opportunities that these challenges present in an attempt to meet the  demand for scarce skills in the country. This study then recommended that the government should offer training programs for farm  workers to operate agric-tech. The Information Technology divisions in institutions of higher learning should be considered to include  agricultural technology operating courses or modules to equip the younger generations with agric-tech knowledge and exposure.